


And So It Begins...

by Fangirl_Deluxe14, jeannegibbs



Series: Secrets and Fallouts [6]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Anti-Abby, Anti-McGee, Anti-Ziva, Case Fic, Competent Tony DiNozzo, Established Relationship, M/M, Slash
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-18
Updated: 2019-01-19
Packaged: 2019-03-20 21:55:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 42,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13726752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fangirl_Deluxe14/pseuds/Fangirl_Deluxe14, https://archiveofourown.org/users/jeannegibbs/pseuds/jeannegibbs
Summary: The team goes through more changes, grow together and learn as a team.  Well, most of them do, anyways... But you never know, maybe we're all surprised?





	1. Case Closed

**Author's Note:**

> DISCLAIMERS: NCIS belongs to Belisarius Productions, CBS Television Studios;  
> All other publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the authors. The authors are in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Tony and Alex brought Roskam back to the Navy Yard and left him in holding cell to stew and sober up while they worked out the last kinks of the case.  Abby receives the bat to analyze for traces of blood, and Tony and his SFA join the other agents in the bullpen.

 

“Roskam’s in a holding cell to sober up”, Tony tells Gibbs.  “He was really hungover, we can’t interrogate him when he’s like that.”

 

 “He was in his apartment?” Stan asks, surprised.  Tony and Alex both nod.  “Yeah, he was.  Didn’t look like he planned to run either, by the state of it”, Alex shudders.  “It was horribly messy.”

 

 “While you booked him, David came back and got her stuff.  Quinn, her desk is now yours until we manage to rearrange things”, Gibbs interrupts.  He hears footsteps approaching and looks up to see Vance approach the team.

 

 “Ah, DiNozzo, you’re back.  Good.  I need to speak with you and Gibbs regarding David’s termination.  Would you mind coming up to my office now so we can talk under six eyes?”

 

 “Of course, Director.  We’ll be right behind you”, Tony glances at Alex and Stan.  “Burley, Quinn, reports.”  At their affirmative nods, he relaxes,following Gibbs and Vance up to the Director’s office.  The three men settled around the table, Tony and Gibbs on either side with Vance at the end of the table.

 

 “With David’s termination, there will be some additional, unforeseen changes to your team.  In addition to the two junior team members, you will have to find one more agent to recruit to your team”, Vance was about to continue when he sees that the two agents share a meaningful look, along with a silent conversation on a level that few others could manage to even realize had happened, no less interpret it.  He waits until the green and blue eyes are once again on him before the Director speaks again.

 

 “I take it you two already have an idea who you want to take her place.”

 

 The answer comes to him on surround sound, two voices completely in sync with one another:  “NSA analyst Eleanor Bishop.”

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

As soon as Ziva had entered her apartment, she set down the box with her belongings from NCIS and sits down by her kitchen table, staring between the laptop and her phone.  While Vance had said her father wanted to talk to her, his words and her own actions had made her unsure on how to feel about contacting Eli.  Finally she takes a deep breath, opens her laptop and makes the call.  She keeps her eyes closed until she hears her father’s voice.

 

 “Ziva.”  She opens her eyes and barely holds back a flinch at how angry Eli looked.  Ziva swallows before speaking.

 

 “Abba”, she whispers meekly.

 

 “I thought I trained you better than this, Ziva”, Eli says sternly, his voice making Ziva flinch once more.

 

 “But Abba, I do not understand...”

 

 “When Leon called me and told me you had been fired, I did not want to believe it.  I see now that your time in the US has made you lazy and ignorant.  He gave me proof that you had acted incredibly unprofessional as of late.  That is not the way I taught you.”

 

 “Abba, Tony drives me up the hall!” Ziva begins trying to defend herself, although she knows from the start it's futile to try to make her father see it from her point of view.  “He started playing this stupid prank on us, he says he’s ma-” she's cut off by her father’s stern and angry voice.

 

 “Ziva, enough!  You should know better!  I trained you better than this, and you know it.  You cannot let Anthony DiNozzo get under your skin”, Eli growls.  His eyes burns into his daughter's.  “You have two weeks to fix this mess, or I will force you back into Mossad. You need to be retrained.”

 

Ziva pales slightly at the thought of having to go back to Israel, Mossad, and most of all the training, it had been tough enough the first time.  “Abba, no, please-” she stops when the screen goes black and the call abruptly ended.  She sighs, closes the laptop and leans forward, rubbing her hands over her face.  The position is only kept for a few moments before she stands, getting a pen as well as a piece of paper.  The paper was soon filled with notes, ideas, comments.  All regarding how to fix her mess.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

 By the end of the day, Roskam had given his confession and the case was closed.  The fiancé was taken to his aunt’s to stay there while he got back on his feet.  All that was left was to finish the reports, and Tony and Gibbs were finally able to go home.  The bruise on Gibbs' jaw had gotten blue and green and ugly, and Tony wanted nothing more than to be able to be close to his husband again.  Tony spends the car ride home with one hand on Gibbs' knee, his thumb gently rubbing back and forth.

 

 They walk inside and remove their coats before toeing off their shoes.  The younger man walks to the kitchen as he rolled up the sleeves of his shirt before washing his hands.  Pulling open the pantry, he digs into it, finding some pasta he had made a few weekends ago.  He measures out two portions of pasta and lets them sit aside as he makes the sauce.  He smiles to himself as he hears Gibbs walk over to the fridge, pulling out two beers.  He waits for the scraping of wood against tiles and a quiet ‘oomph’ as Gibbs sat down before he spoke.

 

 “Are you sure you’re alright?  She put up one hell of a fight.  I had no idea she wanted me that badly.”

 

 “Yeah, Tone, I’m fine.  A little sore, perhaps, but nothing some sleep won’t help”, Jethro says softly.  “Are you okay?”

 

 Tony gives him a soft nod.  “Yeah, I’m okay, Jeth.  More worried about you.” He shoots Jethro a smile before turning his focus back to the sauce. He grabs a pot and brings the water to a boil before adding the pasta.  He leaves the sauce to simmer and the pasta to cook as he goes over to the table, sitting next to his husband and taking the offered beer bottle.  He takes a gulp before looking into Jethro’s eyes.

 

 “About tomorrow… We have to get in touch with Bishop about our offer.  And Turner let me know she’ll be here tomorrow as well.  Foster told me he was delayed and will be arriving first over the weekend.”  Jethro nods, watching him.

 

 “I’ll get in touch with Bishop tomorrow morning, ask her to come in.  She applied to join NCIS a few years ago, been through FLETC already. A refresher course should be enough, along with a psych eval and a test at the firing range.   There’s not much left before she’s a part of the team”, Jethro says, smiling at Tony.

 

 “Turner was her team’s McGee back at FBI, you know.  She’s kept up to date with the internet and new gadgets with a degree from CHFI, so she can show McGee how it’s done if need be.  Speaking of gadgets, now that we’re not hiding anymore, can you _please_ start actually using the phone I bought you for Christmas last year?  It’s a pain watching you still use that old flip phone.”

 

 Jethro lets out a soft laugh.  “Sure, Tone, I can do that.  Been getting tired of that old thing, anyways.”  He shoots Tony a grin as the younger man stood and went back over to the stove, grabbing two plates and serving the food, going back to the table with the plates.  He grabs forks and handed one to Jethro, who had been severely tempted to dig in with his fingers.

 

 Tony chuckles at his obvious enthusiasm.  “You know, you’re really cute when you’re excited about stuff like this.  At least use a fork”, he teases fondly as he sat down.   “Dig in.”

 

 Dinner was enjoyed in silence from that point and was only interrupted when Jethro stood up to grab another couple of beers for them both.  It was Jethro who washed the dishes, insisting that since Tony had cooked, he’d clean.

 

 Tony knows better than to argue and settles with getting rid off of the empty beer bottles and going upstairs and into the bathroom.  He undresses and showers before going into the bedroom, naked with only a towel wrapped around his hair.  He towel dries his hair before he stretches out on the bed on his stomach, his legs spread just a hint.  He knows exactly what he's suggesting to Jethro in this position, and he wants it.  After days like this, Tony loved, almost craved, feeling Jethro’s weight on top of him and pushing him into the bed as his cock pounded into the younger man, making him gasp and beg for more.

 

 Tony swore he only closed his eyes for a moment, but the next thing he knew Jethro has his hand on his ass and the snap of the cap of a bottle of lube being opened was heard.  The younger man shivers in anticipation and bites his lower lip as he spreads his legs wider, soon feeling Jethro’s calloused finger rub at his hole before sliding in.  Tony clenches around the finger and lets out a quiet moan, his head tipping back as his back arched.  

 

 “Oh, please, Jeth...” he breathes out, his eyes squeezed shut.  “Patience”, is whispered into his ear as a hand runs down his spine, eliciting another shiver from Tony.  Soon enough a second and then a third finger joins the first, stretching Tony out wider and preparing him.

 

 Jethro pulls away and settles on his knees between Tony’s legs as he slicked up his length.  He drapes himself over Tony as he positions himself at his entrance, sliding home.  They both groan in pleasure as Jethro begins moving his hips, his hands on either side of Tony’s head to keep himself from crushing the younger man.

 

 Hips moved and bodies slid against each other.  Tony’s hand reaches up and grabs onto Gibbs’s hair, holding on to him and moaning out his pleasure.  The other hand was closed in the sheets, gripping tightly as he rocks his hips back against his husband’s.  Only moans and the slaps of skin on skin were heard.  Soon, too soon for either man’s liking, their climaxes approached and they groaned out the other’s name as they came.

 

 They lay silent for a few minutes before Jethro pulls away, going to the bathroom to get a washcloth.  He cleans them both up before tossing the cloth in the general direction of the bathroom door.  Tony lifts the blanket and let Jethro lay down before the younger man curled into him and rested his head on Jethro’s chest.  He breathes out a content sigh as the silver haired man wrapped his arms around him, pulling him close.  The two fall asleep without another word whispered apart from “love you”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, kudos and comments are appreciated!


	2. A Day at the Yard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We meet two new team members, but before that, Vance and SecNav want to talk to Tony and Gibbs

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

 

The next morning, Vance sits at his desk with a cup of coffee, hoping to actually get some work done.  That light of hope is quickly blown out when his assistant Pamela Cook calls and tells him Secretary of the Navy Sarah Porter wants to see him.

 

 “Send her in”, Vance says and stands as the door opened, going over to the conference table and standing behind a chair.  “Madam Secretary, what can I do for you?” He asks politely, watching the curly red-haired woman step through.  In her arms she carries an item that looks much like a tablet, but she gave it no attention as she stepped up to Vance.

 

 “I want to speak to you about some National Security issues”, she says, turning her head and gesturing for the man who had led her in to leave and close the door behind him.  After the door is closed, Vance reaches under the table and presses a button, activating the extra security features he has put in place after the Port-to-Port killer case.  He waits for SCIF to complete before he takes a seat on the other side of the table to Porter.

 

 “Which matters of National Security are we talking about here, Ma’am?” Vance watches as Porter typed on the tablet for a few moments before sliding it over the table towards him.  On the screen is the cover of "Deep Six: The Continuing Adventures of L. J. Tibbs", written by Thom E. Gemcity.

 

 “Are you aware of the existence of this book?” She asks him.  “And are you aware it was written by one of the agents under your command?”

 

 “Yes, I was aware of the book, but I haven’t read it.  Haven’t had the time or the urge to”, Vance tells her as he pushes the tablet back towards her, leaving it between them in the middle of the table.

 

 “So you are not aware that Agent McGee has used the likeness of his teammates on the MCRT in this book, or that he has used intimate knowledge of classified cases in it?” She continues.

 

 “How classified are we talking here?”  “Classified enough that it can be considered treason to reveal the information that has been written about in this book.  I can recognize a high profile case when I read it, Director Vance.  You were chosen as Director Shepard's replacement by former Secretary Davenport to clean up her messes, right?” At Vance's nod, she continues.  “Then why wasn't this handled when you came into power?”

 

 “Ma’am, I wasn’t aware that this was an issue that needed to be dealt with.” Vance looks at her with surprise. “I was aware that Agent McGee had written a book, but not that it contained sensitive details about our agency or high profile cases the MCRT has handled.”

 

 “Can you call Agents Gibbs and DiNozzo up here?  I noticed very clearly the similarities between Agent McGee’s characters and your MCRT, and I want to know how they feel about their representation in the novel.”  Porter looks at him pointedly, and Vance stands in response. He turns off SCIF before leaving the room. He stands on the mezzanine and overlooks the team.  Like always, Gibbs soon looks up and they make eye contact.  

 

 “Gibbs, DiNozzo, my office! Now!”

 

 Tony and Gibbs stand, looking at each other.  “What now?” Tony whispers to Gibbs, but the older man just shrugged. Vance leads them into the office, Gibbs closing the door behind them.  Tony and Gibbs stand next to each other and look at Porter.

 

 “Director, Madam Secretary, what can we do for you?” Tony asks.

 

 “Please, have a seat.”  Porter gestures towards the table and the two agents walk as one towards the table, sitting next to each other, to Vance’s left.  She unlocks her tablet once more and pushes it towards them.

 “Have you heard of this novel, Deep Six, by an author called Gemcity?” Porter says, watching them.  They both nod.  “Yes, we are, and we have both read it”, Tony informs her politely.

 

 “And are you aware that Agent McGee on your team is this Gemcity?”  Another set of nods confirms her suspicions.

 

 “Did he confer with you about his choice to use your likeness in the books?” This time it's Vance that speaks.

 

 “No, Director, he didn’t.  I found the book in a library and began flipping through it.  I borrowed it for reading when I realized there was something I recognized”, Tony begins.  “I recognized the characters as our team as well as the cases.  I tried asking McGee about it and he denied everything.  We asked more than once, but he denied it every time, about everything, whether it be cases we have worked, or us.”

 

 “He wasn’t the only one who spoke up about it, however.  Agent David, Miss Sciuto, Dr Mallard and especially Dr Palmer have all voiced their complaints regarding Agent McGee’s usage of their likeness in his novel”, Gibbs tells them.  “He never asked for our permission to use our mannerisms and looks, neither did his publisher and none of them would have gotten it either.”

 

 Porter nods slowly, watching the two agents.  “I would advise that you take legal actions against Agent McGee for misappropriation of name and likeness.  You can also take action against his publisher, they made a mistake as well and have to take some responsibility.”

 

 Tony and Gibbs share a look.  “Do we have grounds to sue?” Tony asks.  “I thought that since he changed our names, albeit it was a small change, and altered the reality of the free time of the characters, he could get away with it.  And when the book hit the stores and came to our attention, I still considered Tim a friend.”

 

 “Maybe we should bring up someone from Legal, they can answer your questions about this, DiNozzo”, Vance interrupts. He stands and asks his assistant Pamela to get someone from the Legal department to join them.  It takes less than a minute before Michelle Lee is sitting with the rest of the group and Tony repeats his question to her.

 

 “To sue for misappropriation of name and likeness, you have to show that Agent McGee used an aspect of your identity that is protected by the law, which he has.  You also have to prove that he used it for an exploitative purpose, which he did, since he made money from the novel, and that you did not give consent to have your likeness used in this way.  So, in short, yes, you have solid grounds to sue Agent McGee.” Lee looks at the two agents.  “Do you have any other questions?”

 

 “No, not now, Michelle”, Tony smiles.  “Thank you.” Lee smiles softly and excuses herself, leaving the room and closing the door behind her.  Porter looks at the two agents and the Director.

 

 “The DoD has been informed and will prosecute McGee and his publisher on their own in regards to him revealing sensitive information about our Agency.  JAG will be involved regarding the most sensitive information that’s classified as treason against the United States.  JAG may also be in touch with you in the future.  There will be demands that every book in store is pulled and destroyed.  Your safety has been compromised thanks to this novel, and we wish we were made aware of this issue before.”

 

 “Thank you, Ma’am, that is really appreciated”, Vance says for the agents, who were looking at each other, engulfed in a silent conversation existing solely in looks and facial expressions.  Tony turns his head towards Porter with a smile.  “Thank you for letting us know about our choices to sue and also that DoD will take action as well.“

 

 Suddenly Gibbs’s phone rings and he picks up.  “Yeah, Gibbs.”

 

  _“Gibbs, it’s Quinn.  There’s a woman here to see you.  Says her name is Ellie Bishop.”_

 

 “Lead her up to conference room 2, we’ll meet her there”, Gibbs says as he stood, Tony immediately following him.  He looks at Vance and Porter.  “If you’ll excuse us, we’re going to meet with a potential new team member. Madam Secretary, Leon, thank you.” He says on behalf of both of them as they made their leave, Gibbs leading the way to the conference room.

 

 They are met by Quinn and Bishop, and the young blonde woman shakes hands with Gibbs.

 

 “Ellie Bishop, NSA analyst, nice to meet you”, she says quickly with a smile on her face.  “You called me to see you, Agent Gibbs?”

 

 “Yes, I did.  Come in, have a seat”, Gibbs tells her, smiling softly.

 

 “Nice to meet you, Miss Bishop.  I’m Tony DiNozzo-Gibbs, call me DiNozzo or just Tony”, Tony smiles and shakes her hand.  He holds the door to the conference room open for her.  He nods his thanks to Quinn, who goes back to the squad room to go back to work.  He follows Gibbs and Bishop and closes the door.  Tony takes a seat next to Gibbs and looks at Ellie, watching her.

 

 “So, Miss Bishop”, Gibbs begins, sliding a piece of paper towards her.  Ellie looks at it, reading through it.

 

 “This is… my old application to NCIS from years ago.  It’s been approved”, she says quietly, looking up and between the two men.

 

 “We want you to become a part of the MCRT here at the Navy Yard”, Tony explains to her.  “After a week’s refresher course at FLETC, you’d become a probationary agent on our team.”

 

 “You will also have to undergo a psych eval as well as a firearms qualification after the refresher course”, Gibbs continues.

 

 Ellie watches them for a moment, a bit dumbfounded and taken aback by their offer.  “Oh, wow, I mean, it’d be an honor, I’d love to, really.” She speaks softly.  “I’ll put in my two weeks notice and finish up my work, and then I’ll do whatever is required for me to become a probationary agent.”

 

 Tony’s smile widens.  “It’ll be great having you on the team, Miss Bishop.  You’ll make a fine agent”, he says confidently, standing to shake her hand.  “Welcome to NCIS, Ellie.”

 

 Ellie smiles as they shake hands once more.  “Thank you, Tony. I can’t wait.”

 

 Tony leads her to the door where another agent is waiting to escort Ellie out.  Tony waits until she has gone before closing the door and turning to Gibbs.

 

 “What should we do about the mess with McGee and his book?  Clearly SecNav wants us to sue him”, Tony says, leaning on the door.  “Should we?”

 

 “Yes, we should”, Gibbs says.  “And Ducky and Palmer too.  They were almost more affected and offended by the book than we were.”

 

 “Especially Palmer, with the ‘Pimmy Jalmer’ being a necrophiliac thing McGee pulled.  That was not okay”, Tony agrees.  “But who could represent us?  I mean, it’s an old book and by now most people would have considered just letting it go.”

 

 Gibbs stands and walks over to him.  “I could ask AJ Chegwidden, the former JAG.  He’s working in the private sector now.  I’ll give him a call.”  Tony nods and pushes himself away from the door, taking Gibbs' hand and squeezing it.  “Let’s head back down, Turner should be here any minute now.”

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

 Back down in the bullpen while Tony and Gibbs were talking to Vance and Porter, McGee had arrived to find his desk covered in files.  “What is this?” he asks incredulously as he sits down.

 

 “Your paperwork”, Stan tells him, turning his head to look at him.  “DiNozzo laid them on your desk this morning, McGee.”

 

 “What, so now I get extra paperwork too?” he asks as he flips through the top file.

 

 “Nope”, Alex says from her desk.  “That is the amount of paperwork DiNozzo’s done for you all these years.  And that’s just yours.  He did the same for David.”

 

 “Oh, come on, Tony doing all this paperwork? I don’t believe it.  There can’t possibly be this much paperwork to do.”  McGee grabs more files and flips through them, his face paling as he realizes that the paperwork is real and actually had been previously done by Tony.  He swallows and looks around before turning on his computer, deciding to get some work done and not just read.

 

The Senior Agents finishes up their paperwork for the closed case and began reading through the personnel files they'd been given.

 

 “Oh, Foster is coming.  I remember him,” Quinn says.  “Bright young thing when he came in.” She chuckles softly and looks up at Stan, who met her eyes.  “Yeah?”

 

 “Yeah, straight from homicide in Baltimore, quit because he wanted more.  Stubborn as hell, but a good student and a quick learner.  Last I heard after he went to our office in SoCal, he'd gotten married.  Handsome fella he'd found too, I heard.” She smiles at Stan.  “He's a good agent.”

 

 “I can tell by his file.  And this Turner girl… She's good too.” Stan flips through the other file.

 

 From the other end of the room, the elevator dings and out steps an auburn haired woman, she is relatively short and beautiful, a NCIS visitor's badge is clipped to her jacket and an agent is escorting her towards the bullpen.  Her hair is pulled back in a loose ponytail and her navy colored pant suit fits her well, but in’t revealing.  She stops at the entrance to the MCRT part of the squad room and looks around.

 

 “Hello”, she says, her voice calm and soft.  “I’m Hannah Turner, here to see Agent Gibbs?”

 

 “He’s not here right now”, Alex says and stands.  “I'm Special Agent Alexandra Quinn, Burley and I are in charge when the team leads aren’t here.”

 

 “Oh, nice to meet you, Agent Quinn, Agent Burley.”  Turner’s smile is warm and welcoming as she steps forward, shaking Alex' hand.  She looks around and spots McGee at his desk.  “And you must be Agent McGee”, she walks towards him.  “I’ve heard of you.”

 

 McGee hasn’t paid the newcomer any attention until he was addressed.  “Oh, yes, that’d be me. And you are?”

 

 “Hannah Turner, I’ll be joining this team in the position of Junior Field Agent.  I was told they were looking for a computer technician.”  She smiles charmingly at McGee, who frowned at her answer.  He is the designated computer technician and didn’t understand why someone else is wanted for his position on the team.

 

 “Turner, how about we stop disturbing Agent McGee and get you down to HR to get the needed forms and your credentials”, Stan says, standing.

 

 “Oh, of course”, Turner turns her smile to Stan and follows the agent out of the squad room.  Once out of earshot, she looks at Stan.

 

 “Is there a problem with McGee?  He seemed… distant.”

 

 “He doesn’t like the changes made to the team, with Agent DiNozzo joining SSA Gibbs as team lead and all the new agents coming.”

 

 Turner nods softly and doesn’t press any further.  Should this have any consequences for her, they would tell her.  They walk in silence to Human Resources and got the forms she needed to fill out as well as her credentials, before Stan brought her to the armory to get her weapon, the SIG Sauer P239 being her weapon of choice.  Then it was back to the bullpen to get the forms filled and making sure everything is in order.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, kudos and comments are appreciated!


	3. Still a Day at the Yard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The meetings in Vance's office continue, and his guests have varying reactions to his news.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

 

After Turner and Burley had left for HR, Vance went back out on the mezzanine, this time watching McGee struggle with the paperwork left to him by Tony.

 

 “McGee!” He calls out, getting the agent’s attention and making him look up at Vance.

 

 “My office.  Now.”  His voice is stern and making it clear that it isn’t up for discussion or hesitation.  Vance bites back a smirk when he sees the way McGee jumps out from behind his desk and scurries towards the stairs.  He chose not to wait for the young agent and went back into his office, sitting down with Porter once more and waiting.

 

 McGee enters the office and looks around, expecting to see Vance at his desk.  When he isn’t there, he turns and sees SecNav Porter. He swallows and steps towards them. Vance presses the button under the table once more and activates SCIF.

 

 “Director, Madam Secretary”, McGee greets, walking closer to the conference table.  He feels worried about the extra security measures taking place as well as the eerie silence from his two superiors.

 

 “Agent McGee, take a seat”, Porter says, gesturing to a seat on the other side of the table from herself and Vance.  McGee sits down and watches them nervously.

 

 “What did you want to talk to me about?”

 

 Porter once again unlocks her reading tablet and shows him the cover of his novel.  “This, Agent McGee.  Your novel, based on your fellow Agents and coworkers here at NCIS and your cases.”

 

 “Ma’am, that novel is not based on my coworkers or any case related to the ones we’ve solved.  Any resemblance is circumstantial at best.”

 

 “Oh, cut the crap, McGee”, Vance interrupts, cutting him off. “We know you used the MCRT agents and their affiliates as characters in your novel, as well as your solved cases as plots. This is a severe breach of security and, now that this has come to our attention, you are being benched and will be under investigation from the NCIS Legal team.  They will also pull your security clearance while their investigation is ongoing.”

 

 “The Department of Defense Legal team will go over the book with a fine-toothed comb, and any hint at security breaches will make your day even worse, Agent McGee”, Porter continues, taking over for Vance.  “They will also contact your publisher regarding your contract, I suspect you will be contacted by the end of the day, if not sooner.”

 

 “Is this Tony’s work?  Has he brought this up again?  Made idiotic claims that my novel is based on him, and Ziva, and Gibbs?” McGee asks, a bit grumpy sounding.

 

 “Agent DiNozzo had nothing to do with this interview and the follow-up investigations”, Porter tells him calmly.  “I stumbled over this book myself and recognized a high profile case you had described in very vivid detail.  After that it wasn’t long until I realized I knew these characters from real life.  You and your team.  You have put them in danger, you have put the safety of the United States at risk.”

 

 “How can my novel have put the country in danger?” McGee asks, disbelieving.  

 

 “Detailing our investigative methods and how our organization operates will help our enemies should they get their hands on this book.”  Vance is really starting to get annoyed by McGee’s ignorance and feigned innocence.  The agent used to be so level-headed, collected and intelligent, he didn’t know what had happened.  He bit back an irritated sigh when McGee began another round of defending himself.  “Dismissed, Agent McGee.” he interrupts.  “Get out and do your paperwork.”

 

 McGee stands and moves towards the door, waiting for SCIF to be turned off so he could leave the room, his face showing anger and still some form of disbelief. Vance shuts off SCIF as he stood.  The room is silent as the younger agent left, and Porter waits to speak until the door had closed.

 

 “What happened to Gibbs' team, Director? It seems they’ve forgotten their duties.”  Porter looks at Vance, not liking the way things are going.

 

 “I’d tell you if I knew, Madam Secretary.  I’ll call up Miss Lee from Legal and tell her about McGee and the investigation”, Vance sighs.  “Then we have to tell Gibbs and DiNozzo about the developments.”  He calls his assistant and asks her to send Lee back to his office.  Vance and Porter tells her about the case and McGee’s benching, and tasked her and the Legal team to investigate him thoroughly.  After that, Vance asked Pamela to call Gibbs and DiNozzo.

 

 It took no more than a minute for the two team leads to enter the office once more and take their places opposite to Porter and Vance.

 

 “Director, Madam Secretary”, Tony greets.

 

 “Agents, thank you for coming so quickly”, Porter says.  “Miss Lee, thank you for your assistance, you are excused.”  Lee leaves quickly after thanking them for bringing her, the door closing quietly behind her.

 

 “We have spoken to Agent McGee, and he appears ignorant, more so than I expected of him.  We have made the decision to bench him and pull his clearance.  The NCIS Legal team has put him under investigation.”

 

 Tony and Gibbs share a small look before nodding.  “Okay.  So, once again, we’re one team member down”, Tony concludes.

 

 “In practice, yes”, Vance agrees.  “If needed, I will transfer another agent to your team.”

 

 “How long with McGee be under investigation?”  Gibbs asks, leaning back in his seat.

 

 “For as long as Legal finds it necessary, Agent Gibbs”, Porter tells them.  “And until Legal has made a decision, he will be benched.  I will be in touch with the DoD Office of the Inspector General and JAG, I want Rear Admiral Rabb to be in the know on this from the start. He and Captain Roberts will be prosecuting McGee for treason if DoD finds grounds for it.”

 

 Tony nods softly.  “Thank you for letting us know, Ma’am, it's appreciated.  Jethro and I have talked, and we will sue McGee ourselves.” He smiles slightly, relaxing a little at knowing the people above them are on their side regarding McGee.

 

 “I will also be in touch with Dr Mallard, Dr Palmer and Miss Sciuto about this so-called novel”, Vance says.  The two agents nod.

 

 “We'll talk to Ducky and Palmer ourselves”, Tony says.  “We want to include them in our lawsuit if they wish to sue as well.”

 

 “That's considerate of you, and I'm sure those two will appreciate it as well”, Porter smiles softly.  “Unless you have anything to bring up yourselves, you are excused.” She continues.

 

 Tony and Gibbs share a look before they stand.  “No, there's nothing.” They say at the same time, before sharing a grin and stepping towards the door, the younger man stopping and turning back to Vance and Porter.  “Thank you for keeping us in the loop about this”, he says before following Gibbs out and closing the door behind him.

 

 Vance and Porter look at each other.  “That’s the third meeting today, do you want some water before we go on to the fourth?” Vance asks, standing and getting two glasses and a mug of water.  He fills a glass and hands it to Porter, who takes it with a smile.  “Thank you.  And I have to say I’m looking forward to finish all these meetings, Director.  This isn’t a pleasant subject to have to bring up so often.  But, as this affects them all, they should hear it from us and not from someone else or even worse, watercooler gossip.”

 

 Vance nods and once again calls Pamela, asking her to contact Ducky, Palmer and Abby and to tell them to meet him in his office immediately.  The message is brought forth and soon the three are seated where both Tony, Gibbs and McGee had sat before them that day.  They all greet Vance and Porter politely and waited for the superiors to tell them why they had been brought away from their work (not that any of them were actually busy since no evidence was to be processed or bodies to be examined).

 

 There is silence for just a few moments before Porter for the last time reaches for her tablet and shows them the cover of Deep Six.  “This is what we wanted to see you about.  According to Agents Gibbs and DiNozzo, you have all read this and recognized yourselves in it?”

 

 “Yes, Madam Secretary, we have”, Ducky answers softly.

 

 “Very well.  This novel has caught my attention for the references to protocols and procedures that can be found by our enemies and exploited.  The decision has therefore been made to bench Agent McGee and put him under investigation for possible treason”, Porter explains.

 

 “McGee, our Timmy, treason? No way”, Abby blurts.

 

 “Actually, Miss Sciuto, while it might not have been his intention, it is considered a possibility. Having spoken to Gibbs and DiNozzo and informing them of our investigation, we have also decided to propose that they take legal actions against Agent McGee.  Now we are suggesting the same to you”, Vance tells them.

 

 “Sue him for using our likeness in his novel?” Palmer clarifies.  He is clearly liking the idea, he’d hated the way his character had been portrayed by McGee in the book.

 

 “Precisely, Dr Palmer”, Vance nods.  “They have decided to go through with it.  Whether you want to do the same is up to each one of you, of course.  But we wanted to inform you personally so you know what is going to happen.”

 

 “Exactly what is going to happen to Tim, Director?” Abby asks, sounding unsure.  After what she and McGee had had together, she feels like she can’t do that to him.  Not with everything they are going through at the moment, he was her only friend at the moment and she didn’t want to lose him too.  

 

 “Right now he has had his clearance pulled and he is benched, as he is under investigation from the NCIS Legal team”, Vance tells them.

 

 “And the DoD Office of the Inspector General as well as JAG will be looking into the novel thoroughly to look for grounds of treason, and his publisher will also be pursued”, Porter takes over.  “What they decide is out of our hands and we will have to go through with what they say is best for the agency and the US.  What we know will happen at some point is that every book in any public store will be pulled and destroyed.”

 

“We will keep Agents DiNozzo and Gibbs in the loop on when we know something, but do not hound them for information.  They will share what information they see fit, Miss Sciuto.”  Vance looks at her pointedly.  That clearly marked the end of the meeting and the three thanks Vance and Porter for their time before leaving, Abby back to her lab and Ducky and Palmer back to Autopsy.  Now Porter also gathers her tablet and her coat before slipping out, leaving the Navy Yard while talking on her secure cell phone.  Vance himself moves back behind his desk, pulling the files he was supposed to have been working on closer and opening the first.  He still has a long day ahead of himself, he could feel it.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

Back in the bullpen Alex and Stan are going over cold cases, tossing ideas at each other to try to look at the cases from a new angle.  They’d seen Bishop being escorted out and had been expecting their bosses to return, but it still took a while before they did.  Both SFAs found it a bit weird that neither of them asked where McGee was, but they figured it was because they already know he's with Vance.

 

 When Gibbs got a call, he stood and brought DiNozzo with him back up towards Vance’s office, and on the stairs they met a fuming McGee, who is muttering to himself and grumbling nonsense.  The young agent stomps into the bullpen, to the surprise of Stan and Alex.

 

 “McGee?” Stan Burley asks, turning to face him.

 

 “I’m not interested in your chit-chat now, Burley.  Just leave me alone.” McGee snaps as he sits down, grabbing a file.  His fingers works on the keyboard fast and hard, the clicks loud in the sudden silence around the bullpen.  Even Special Agent Rick Balboa, who watched this whole scene playing out from behind Quinn's desk, as this was the area where his team was placed, shook his head at McGee's extremely brazen answer.

 

 “Agent McGee, that is not how you answer your superior when he talks to you”, Alex Quinn chides harshly, standing and going over to his desk.  She crossed her arms over her chest and looks down at him with a stern look on her face.  “I trained you better than that.”  That comment made McGee try to give her a glare to rival one of Gibbs', but, as McGee isn’t the glare-giving type, it didn’t have the desired effect and only made Alex more angry.  

 

 “McGee, I’m writing you up for insubordination right now.  Do you have anything to say in your defense?”  Alex turns and goes back to her desk, and just as she sat, McGee stands and leaves the squad room.  Stan watches him leave before looking at Alex.  “He wasn’t like this the last time we met.  I wonder what changed.”  He wonders aloud as the other SFA types up the write up for McGee.

 

 “So do I, Burley, so do I”, she mutters, shaking her head.

  
  
Back behind Alex, Balboa could be heard, mumbling to himself "About damn time....someone knocks him down a peg or two!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, kudos and comments are appreciated!


	4. It's a Long, Long Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony and Gibbs meet with Ducky and Jimmy at home, but before that, McGee and Abby have something to say.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

 

 After Tony and Gibbs had left Vance’s office for the second time, they step into the elevator, Gibbs going down to the bullpen while Tony continues down to Autopsy to talk to Ducky and Palmer. As soon as the doors had slid shut, Tony steps closer to Gibbs and feels an arm wrap around his waist in return.  The small touch felt grounding and calming to the younger man, and he turns his head to press a kiss to Gibbs' cheek.

 

 The two pull apart as the doors open to the squad room and Gibbs steps out.  Tony watches him leave as the doors close once more, the elevator taking him down to the bottom floor.

 

Gibbs enters the bullpen and sees McGee's empty desk.  “Where is he?” He asks, pointing at the empty desk.

 

 “He came back from the meeting with Director Vance pissed off, did some work, was rude, got written up for insubordination and left”, Stan tells him.  Gibbs sighs and shakes his head, before looking over at Turner.  “How's the paperwork coming along, Turner?” He asks her.

 

 “Almost done, Agent Gibbs”, she looks up with a smile, she had borrowed a chair and was using part of Alex's desk.

 

 “Good.  Tomorrow I'll take you down to the range for your firearms qualification.  Do you have a decent knife?”

 

 Turner’s brows furrow.  “No… Why?”

 

 Stan and Alex look at each other before turning towards Turner.  “Rule 9”, Stan says, before Alex took over with “Never go anywhere without a knife.”

 

 “Rule 9…  How many rules are there?” Turner looks at Gibbs for the answer.

 

 “Enough.”

 

 “Are they… written down somewhere?” Turner asks hesitantly.

 

 “Nope”, Gibbs says as he sits down.  “After your evaluation, we’re getting you a nice knife, Turner.”

 

 “Any other rules I should be aware of from the start?” Turner asks, a bit wearily albeit very curiously.

 

 “Rule 6”, Stan began, but was interrupted by Alex, who shot him a grin and took over with “Don’t apologize, it’s a sign of weakness.  Then there’s Rule 3 - never be unreachable. That’s also an important one.” Turner nods.  “I’m going to make a list in my phone”, she mutters to herself.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

 While Gibbs stepped off of the elevator in the bullpen, Tony took it down to the bottom floor, down to Autopsy.  He steps in and leans on the wall, just watching Palmer and Ducky mill around, cleaning equipment and wiping off the tables. He can’t help but let out a chuckle when Palmer turns and sees him, doing a double take before poking Ducky’s arm and making the older man turn and notice Tony as well.

 

 “Ah, Anthony, how can we help you?”  Ducky smiles.

 

 “Ducky, Jimmy.  Gibbs and I want to invite you over for dinner tonight, if we don’t catch a case.  Would seven thirty be okay for you?”  Tony smiles back at them.

 

 “I’d love to, but Breena wanted to come over...” Palmer says.

 

 “Oh, she can come too, she’s going to find out about what we’re going to be talking about anyways.”

 

 “And what exactly will we be talking about?” Ducky asks.

 

 “McGee, the book, and what we’re going to do about it.”

 

 “Oh, then we’d love to be there”, Palmer smiles.  “I’ll just call Breena and tell her to meet us there instead.”

 

 “That’s great.  And don’t worry, Autopsy Gremlin, I’ll make you that vegetable casserole you love.” Tony grins when he sees Palmer’s smile widen.

 

 “Thank you, Tony, that’d be really great.  You know how much I love that casserole you make; I told Breena about it, she will be delighted to sample it herself.  Don’t worry, we’ll make sure to be there.”

 

 “Awesome”, Tony smiles.  “I’ll see you guys tonight, then.  Oh, and Jimmy?  I'm also making that potato gratin you like as well.”  He waves at them before leaving to the elevator, taking it back up towards the bullpen.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

 McGee took the stairs down to Abby’s lab, not wanting to wait for the elevator.  He rushes into the lab and goes past the main area into the office.  “Abby, get in here and lock the door, now!”  Abby, who herself has just gotten off the elevator McGee hadn’t wanted to wait for, is a bit shocked, but does what he tells her, closing the glass door and locking it.

 

 “What is it, Timmy?” She asks, a bit wearily.  Something about his attitude is disconcerting to her.

 

 “I’m so tired of this.  First Tony gets promoted to team lead in a sick prank, then I’m not promoted to Senior Field Agent, but Burley and a FLETC trainer take my place.  Suddenly Ziva is fired too after kissing Tony, who we both know wants her, and now I’m under investigation about my 5 year old book on incredulous grounds.”  McGee paces the office as he speaks, gesticulating wildly as he looked around aimlessly.

 

 Abby sighs as she listens, she felt guilty about what Vance had been talking to them about, but as McGee spoke, she herself got more agitated and stops McGee by placing a hand on his arm.  

 

 “You think you’re the only one who’s been affected by this prank?  Tony is so entitled, he thinks that he can go anywhere and do anything just because he supposedly is Gibbs’ husband.  I don’t believe him, nor do I believe Vance actually promoted him.  This has to all be temporary and it has gone way too far!  They can’t fire Ziva, I don’t get how they could do this to us, to NCIS.”  Now she's the one pacing and gesticulating, McGee nodding along to what she was saying.

 

 “We have to make them pay, Timmy, they have to see that they can’t do this to us and expect us to just sit here and take it.  We’re going to make them pay and make sure nobody knows it's us.  Isn't that right, Timmy?” She turns and looks at him.

 

 “Abby, ABBY!! Are you listening to anything I said at all?” McGee frowns at her.  “You’re too caught up in your own world to listen to me.”

 

 “McGee, of course I'm listening.  I swear, I am.”  Abby declares while punching him on the arm - hard. “And if we really want to know the truth, we should just get into Tony's and Gibbs’ files.”

 

 “They're classified.  I've tried looking at them, before my clearance was pulled.  I can't.  We're going to have to hack into them”, McGee stands in the middle of her office.

 

 “Why can’t we access Tony’s file? I mean, Gibbs did some Black Ops in the Marine, but Tony hasn’t done anything like that.”  Abby sounds and looks confused, her brows furrowed together.  “Who are they trying to keep out of Tony’s file?  Is it because the marriage actually is a prank and they don’t want us finding out?  I mean, there shouldn’t be a reason to keep us out.”

 

 “We should find out”, McGee says. “They shouldn’t be hiding things from us.”

 

 Abby nods her agreement.  “They shouldn’t.  We’ll figure out what is really going on.”

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

 Both Tony and Gibbs were relieved when the day was over and they could send everyone home on time, including themselves.  They’d gotten one more desk settled in the bullpen.  Of course, it had taken some maneuvering and adjusting, but finally they had managed a setup everyone could work with for the time being.  They had ended up removing the divider between McGee’s and Burley’s desks, shifting Stan closer to the plasma monitor next to Tony and McGee’s desk becoming one half of a double desk.  For now the other half of the desk would be occupied by Turner, but it was by no means a permanent setting.

 

 Tony and Gibbs stopped by a grocery store to get what they needed for the casserole, salad, gratin and the garlic bread the younger man was planning to make.  They ended up carrying two large grocery bags each, as Tony insisted that “Jethro, we need this too”, even though it was more for later dinners than the one they were having that night.

 

 Jethro left Tony in the kitchen when they came home and went straight to the basement.  He had figured out early on that Tony ruled the kitchen and didn’t like it when Jethro was trying to help.  He learnt that lesson the hard way when he and Tony had ended up in a flour fight after Jethro had tried to help make Gnocchi.  After that incident, he left the younger man to his own devices, the food turned out better that way anyways.

 

 Half an hour before their guests were set to arrive, Jethro went upstairs to shower and change.  He had a towel wrapped around his head when the bathroom door opened and Tony stepped in behind him, his arms wrapping around Jethro’s waist.

 

 “You’re going to dress nicely for our guests, right, Jeth?” Tony hums, resting his chin on the older man’s shoulder.  Jethro chuckles, the sound a deep rumble in his chest.  “Of course, Tone.  Like I always do.”  The towel falls away from his head, revealing a mop of damp silver hair that in its current state looked like a crow’s nest.

 

 Tony reaches around Jethro to the sink and grabs the comb, pulling away only to gently comb his husband’s hair.  It isn't the high and tight haircut anymore, it's longer and fits him better, at least that's what Tony always claims. The younger man enjoys doing these small, seemingly insignificant things for him, he felt like those were the times Jethro let him really take care of him.  Plus, it seems like Jethro's very willing to let him to it.  The first few times didn’t go that well, but Tony was persistent and after a while Jethro stopped arguing and just let him do it.  Just like how his wardrobe had slowly changed from polo shirts into more full suits and dress shirts thanks to Tony.

 

 After Tony was satisfied with his husband’s hair, he pulled away and went into the bedroom to change clothes into something a bit more casual.  Jethro wraps a towel around his waist and follows the younger man, standing next to him as they chose their outfits and got dressed in a comfortable silence.

 

 They walk downstairs together and set the table in the dining room, on the dining table Tony had insisted on.  Jethro had made it himself a long time ago, and Tony was happy they could finally use it for times other than Christmas or Thanksgiving, both events spent with their fathers.

 

 They were about to place the casserole, the potato gratin, the salad and the garlic bread on the table when the doorbell rang.  Tony opens the door and smiles at Breena. “Hey, Breena, welcome.  Come in!” He greets her with a hug and insists on taking her coat for her, making the younger woman giggle.

 

 “Thank you, Tony.  I heard about your promotion from Jimmy, congratulations. And your marriage to Gibbs.  When I came to visit NCIS, I thought I saw a spark of something there between the two of you.”

 

 Tony chuckles.  “Knew you were watching too long for an engaged woman.”  He winks playfully at her.  “You’re lucky to have Jimmy, he’s a great guy.”

 

 “I know.”  Breena chuckles as she looks around.  “This is really a nice home.  It’s cozy.”

 

 “Come into the living room, you’re the first to arrive.  Do you want anything to drink?” Tony asks as he leads her into the living room, showing her to the couch.  It wasn't the old one Jethro had had for innumerable years (that one was now in the basement), but a new and soft one, fitting for them both.  Breena sits down and smiles.  “Yes please, some water would be nice.”

 

 “I'll be right back”, Tony promises and slips into the kitchen, giving Jethro a kiss before he got a glass, filling it with water.  He brings it back to Breena, hands it to her and is about to say something when the doorbell rings anew.  Tony opens the door and smiles.  “Ducky, come in.” He greets and takes the doctor's coat for him, hanging it next to Breena’s.  “Breena’s in the living room, Jimmy hasn't come yet.”

 

 “Hello, Anthony.” Ducky smiles as he follows the younger man into the living room, greeting Breena in a similar fashion.  And before Tony could even offer the doctor something to drink, the doorbell rang for the third time, signalling Palmer's arrival.

 

Tony lets him in and ushers him into the living room, to the others.  “Come in through to the dining room,  the dinner is almost ready.  I've made a delicious potato gratin to go with the veggie casserole, a salad and some garlic bread.   I hope I made enough for us.”   Jethro had placed said dishes on the table while Tony had been busy greeting the guests, and now stepped up to his husband.  “It's great you all had the time to come”, he said.  “Let's eat, and we can discuss important matters after dinner.”

 

 Soon, they were all seated around the table, Breena and Jimmy sitting next to each other on one side, Ducky and Jethro sitting on the other, with Tony at the end, between Jethro and Breena.

 

 Tony had almost sat down when he remembered that only Breena had actually gotten something to drink.  He stands again and slips into the kitchen, bringing out a mug of water.  He fills every glass before he takes a seat once more, smiling at everyone.

 

 “Now that we’re all here, we can finally eat.  I don’t know about you guys, but I’m hungry”, he says with a chuckle in his voice.  

 

 “Well, it sure smells delicious, Tony”, Breena smiles.

 

 Jethro takes Tony’s left hand for a moment, his thumb stroking over the wedding band on his finger for a second before releasing it again, his hand just laying on the table.  “He’s a great cook.  I’m pretty sure Dad brags to his friends that he gets the best food at Thanksgiving”, he chuckles slightly, a grin on his lips.  The others joined in on the chuckle when they notice Tony’s blush and shy smile.  “Jeth, stop it”, he whines playfully.  “Let’s eat before he decides to embarass me even more”, he says to their guests.  

 

 Jethro looks around at their guests, a fond smile on his face.  “Go ahead, dig in before the food gets cold.”

 

 Tony nods.  “Agreed.” He smiles and lets their guests serve themselves first, content to watch them for now.  Only when they had sat back did he reach for the food, serving himself and then passing the item over to his husband.

 

 They all enjoyed dinner, Tony getting compliments from everyone on the food, making him smile and talk about the process of making it.  It wasn’t hard to see that he was happy right then, talking about his cooking.  Jimmy and Ducky notice that they're seeing a relaxed and truly happy Tony, someone they very rarely, if ever, saw.  As the amount of food diminishes, their conversation turns to more serious matters as Jethro brings up the changes in the team, talking about the new team members.  He and Tony begin talking about Hannah, Ellie and Chuck, telling Jimmy and Ducky about them.

 

 “I have to say, this Charles fellow reminds me a lot of you, Anthony”, Ducky notices with a smile.  “Transferred from Baltimore to NCIS.”

 

 “Yeah, well, we ended up on opposite ends of the country after we joined, however”, Tony chuckles.  “I’d like to think I was the lucky one.”  He winks at the others before leaning over and pressing a kiss to Jethro’s cheek.  He grins when he heard the others chuckle, and the smile grew as Jethro slid his arm around his waist, pulling him in just a little closer.

 

 “You both were lucky, though, weren’t you?  You both found love where you ended up”, Breena smiles at them.   Tony nods.  “You’re right about that, Breena.  We did.”

 

 “Why don’t we move into the living room?” Jethro suggests when it was clear that they are all done eating.  “Tony and I will clear the table, just get comfortable and we’ll join you in a moment.”

 

 Their guests stood, thanking them for the delicious meal.  Jimmy and Breena retreats to the living room while Ducky insisted on helping them.  Tony smiles and assures the doctor it was unnecessary, but welcomed the help anyways.  Together they bring everything into the kitchen, leaving the dishes in water for later.

 

 After everything in the kitchen was taken care of, the three men walk to the living room and find seats around the table.  The guests look towards Tony and Jethro, waiting for them to begin.

 

 “Now that we’ve eaten, we can talk about what we invited you here for.  Vance talked to you earlier today about McGee’s book, right?” Tony says at first, looking at Jimmy and Ducky, who both nodded.

 

 “Yes, he said that McGee was being investigated because of the novel, and that you were talking about suing him as well”, Jimmy says gently.  “Director Vance advised that Doctor Mallard and I should sue too.”

 

 “That’s what we wanted to talk about.  Jethro and I will be indeed suing McGee for misappropriation of name and likeness, and if you two want, we can all sue together”, Tony tells them.

 

 “I know a lawyer, retired Rear Admiral Chegwidden”, Jethro continues.  “He’s a former JAG and is now working as Senior Partner at Stevens & Hadley in DC, near Dupont Circle.  I haven’t called him yet, I wanted to wait until we had talked to both of you.”

 

 Jimmy looks at the group before speaking.  “I’ll join you, Tony, Gibbs.  I want to sue him for how I was portrayed. That was unacceptable what he wrote about me.”

 

 “And I will join as well”, Ducky says.  “This is a matter we should have dealt with a long time ago, but I know that at the time we all considered Timothy a friend of ours.  Now that it is obvious he cares more about himself than about his team, I think it is long overdue we do something about it.”

 

 “This novel”, Breena interrupts, “it wouldn’t be that Deep Six book I found in the recycled paper bin at Jimmy’s, would it?”

 

 “That would be the one and only, Breena”, Tony nods.  “McGee wrote it based on the team, including Abby, Ducky and Jimmy.  He wrote that Tommy and Lisa, the characters based on me and Ziva, were together and that Jimmy was a necrophiliac. Needless to say, none of us were really appreciative of his portrayal of us.”

 

 “So now that McGee is under investigation from both the DoD and the NCIS legal teams and Vance brought it to our attention that we should pursue him legally, we decided to do so”, Jethro continues.    “And we will  let Chegwidden know you will be suing alongside us. Though knowing A.J., he wants to talk to all of us.”

 

 “Thank you, Jethro.” Ducky smiles.  “The dinner was lovely and I deeply appreciate that you both offered to include us in your lawsuit, and now I think it is time I retreat back home.  It is getting late and we all have work tomorrow.”  He stands, and Tony follows suit.  “Thank you for coming, Ducky.  It was nice having you here.”

 

 Jimmy and Breena stood as well, going into the hall and getting their coats.  They say their goodbyes and leave in their cars, leaving the house suddenly silent and empty.  Tony locks the door and goes back to Jethro, who had moved to the kitchen to wash the dishes.  The younger man helps him, and soon enough the dishes were taken care of and the two men make their way upstairs.  They take turns in the bathroom before settling into bed together, cuddled close and relaxed.  It doesn't take them long to fall asleep, the eventful day finally coming to an end.


	5. A Bright New Day

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

 

 The new day arrives with the shrill of an alarm clock that tears through the house as it wakes its residents.  Tony lets out a groan as he gets out of bed, heading into the bathroom to take a shower. He's halfway through his shower when Jethro steps into the bathroom, standing in front of the mirror and shaving.  When Tony stepped out of the shower, Jethro was washing his face and the younger man takes the opportunity to hug him from behind. Jethro turns around in his embrace and presses a kiss to Tony's mouth before pulling away and stepping into the shower.  Tony smiles and shaves before heading back into the bedroom.

 

 Having gotten dressed, the younger man goes downstairs, takes the newspaper from the front porch and heads into the kitchen.  He rolls his shoulders as he moves, whistling to himself as he made breakfast. Tony smiles when he hears the familiar footsteps coming down the stairs and getting louder as the man they belong to enters the kitchen.

 

 “Did you feed the fish?” Jethro asks as he grabs the newspaper from the table.

 

 “I haven’t done it yet.  Good morning to you too, by the way”, Tony chuckles as he turns around with their finished meals which consisted of pancakes, bacon and scrambled eggs.  “Your coffee’s on the way, too, Jeth, don’t worry about that.” He steps over to the fishbowl and, grabbing the fish food, sprinkled some flakes on the two goldfish.  “Don’t worry, Kate, Ziva, I didn’t forget you. I think, however, that Jethro has been overfeeding you two. You’re getting fat”, he teases with a grin before turning around to face Jethro.

 

 Jethro shakes his head at Tony‘s antics, knowing he should have gotten used to his husband’s silliness by now.  He watches the younger man prepare the two cups of coffee, one straight from the maker and the other doctored with plenty of sugar and hazelnut creamer.  The cups are brought to the table and set down after Tony has taken a seat. Jethro takes the cup offered and takes a sip, smiling.

 

 “So, what's on the agenda today?” Tony asks as he stabbed the first pancake with his fork.

 

 “I'm going to the range with Turner for her firearms qualification and to get her a knife first thing.  You heard anything from Foster about his arrival?”

 

 “No, nothing new yet.  Though I do expect a call, he’s supposed to touch down with his family today, come in for his papers from HR this Friday, spend the weekend getting settled and then join us first thing Monday.”  Tony takes a sip from his coffee and another bite from his food before continuing. “What are we going to do with the desks? We are still two desks short. Where should we put them?”

 

 “Desk next to mine isn’t used, another double desk could work out.  Move the plasma between Alex and myself and there’s room for it.” Tony nods his agreement.  

 

 “Sounds good to me.  Only we'll have to mirror your desk so the junior agents can't see your screens.  There's a good reason why your clearance is called Top Secret.” The younger man smiles as he takes another sip from his mug, glancing over at the fishbowl.  “Do you think we could get a cat someday? I mean, the fish are nice, but I always wanted a furry animal to pet and snuggle. A dog would require walking, whilst a cat is  more independent.” He looks across the table at his husband hopefully.

 

 “I don't think it's a good idea, Tony.  Who's going to take care of it when we're out of town for overnight investigations?” Jethro shakes his head minutely.

 

   “We do have neighbors, Jeth, which you seem to forget often enough”, Tony teases.  “I'm sure they'd love to watch over the cat while we're away.”

 

 “Aren't you forgetting something here, Tony?  You already have fish. Don't you know anything about a cat's diet?”

 

 “It won't be a problem.  They can be trained to some degree”, Tony insists.  “Please, Jethro?”

 

 Jethro finishes his coffee.  “No, Tony. Not now.” His plate is empty, and as he stood, it was clear that their conversation is over.  “I'll take care of the dishes. I'll see you at work, Tone.” The tone of his voice reveals he's smiling, and as Tony steps up beside Jethro with his own dishes, he presses a kiss to his cheek.  “Don't be too hard on Hannah, alright?”

 

 Jethro glances at him, hiding a half smirk.  “Like I ever am.” He chuckles quietly to himself as he hears Tony leave, the slam of the front door and the rumbling of a starting engine reaching his ears.  It isn’t long before he too leaves the house, locking the door behind him.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

 When Gibbs reaches the firing range, he finds Turner leaning on her car and waiting for him.  She has a Starbucks cup in her hand and is taking slow sips from it.

 

 “Good morning, Agent Gibbs”, she says as she lowers the cup, pushing herself away from the car and walking towards the senior agent.

 

 “Turner, good to see you”, Gibbs nods at her.  “Already got your coffee?”

 

 “Oh, this?  No, this is green tea.  I don't drink coffee.” Turner shoots him a smile before lifting the cup to her nose, taking a deep breath and sighing contently.  “It calms me, always has.”

 

 “Great.  Means you’re ready for your evaluation, then”, Gibbs says, walking towards the entrance.  Turner follows him, downing the rest of her tea before throwing away the empty cup in the bin they pass on the way in.  They are shown through to the range, the process of the eval itself being explained to Turner as they walk.

 

“You have stationary targets.  You will be tested at four different distances in four different stages; 3, 7, 15 and 25 yards.  The first stage will be performed one-handed, primarily your strong hand and then your support hand. The other three will be two-handed.  12 rounds in the first stage, 16 in the second, 10 in the third, and 18 in the final stage. Reloading will be done off the clock for the first and third rounds.  You will be rewarded for accuracy.”

 

 Turner takes out her service weapon that she picked up yesterday, nodding as she listens and getting a feel of the SIG Sauer.  To her, it doesn’t look all that different from the Glock she had carried at her previous job. “So, almost like what we had back at FBI”, she says offhandedly as she takes the ear muffs handed to her and places them around her neck.  She's led towards a station, where the explanations continued. 

 

 “For the first stage, the distance is three yards.  You will draw your weapon from concealment and fire three rounds with your strong hand, your right.  You have three seconds. You will do this twice, and in the last session in this stage, you will have eight seconds to fire six rounds, three with your strong hand before you trade hands and fire three more rounds with your left.  You will hear a beep when your time starts, and another when your time is up.”

 

 Turner nods and lays the gun on the table in front of her.  She puts on the ear muffs before taking the gun and loading it with one of the magazines laying on the table.  She makes sure it's safe to holster before doing so and looking at the instructor, giving him a nod. She faces the target and waited for the beep.  As soon as she hears it, she draws her SIG and pulls the trigger with the same force she had used on the Glock, but was surprised that she had to almost double the force of the trigger pull.  The surprise made her miss her mark and hit the edge of the target. Now expecting the same resistance on the next trigger pull, she pulls hard and belatedly realizes that the second shot didn’t need nearly as much power.  This shot was also barely a hit. Closer than the last, but still far off from where she wanted. Her final shot of the first session went better, she adjusted her trigger pull and managed to hit a decent score.

 

 The second beep sounded and she lowers her gun, letting out a sigh.  She secures the gun by pushing down the decocking lever and places it on the table, looking at her target.  The result wasn’t satisfying and she knows she has to work on it. On her best days, she knows she's better than quite a few of her fellow agents at the FBI, but that didn’t really say much.  The Glock is an easier weapon to handle than the SIG, after all.

 

 Turner holsters her gun and waited for the next beep.  She mentally prepares herself for the difference in trigger pull resistance, but it still manages to catch her off guard and making her next set of shots uneven as well.  Before her last session of Stage 1, she tries holding the SIG in her left hand. It feels awkward, and she knows that it will take a while for her to get used to firing with the heavier gun.  Taking a deep breath, she secures the gun and holsters it once more.

 

 The beep sounded and she draws her gun, focusing hard on her task at hand.  Three rounds fired with her right hand, before she raises her left hand, places the gun in it, and fires thrice more.  The recoil makes her uncomfortable, but she manages to not miss her target at all thanks to the lower trigger resistance.   The last beep sounded and Turner lowers the gun, removing the magazine before securing the gun once more.

 

 “Right, for the second stage, the distance is now 7 yards.  At the beep, draw your weapon and hold it in both hands to fire off four rounds in four seconds.  Those are the first two sessions of this stage. For the last session, you will have one bullet in your gun and three rounds in the magazine.  Fire off the four rounds before changing the magazine to a new one pulled out of concealment, and fire four more rounds.”

 

 Turner puts in a new magazine as she listens, nodding along.  “So the magazine is hidden as well”, she clarifies, getting a nod from the instructor.  “Yes, it is - but the empty magazine is to be put where you draw the new magazine from.”

 

 Turner holsters the gun and nods once more.  “Okay, understood.” She squares her shoulders and waits for the first beep.  Holding the gun in both hands improves her aim, and now that she was beginning to understand the ways the SIG fired, her shots improved yet again.  The first two sessions of stage 2 were remarkably similar, the eight shots all landed very close to each other. They were in a position to wound and disarm an opponent, but not enough to kill, which Gibbs notices.  He isn’t too pleased with Turner’s performance, which is obvious in the way he holds himself as he watches.

 

 When it was time for the magazine change, Turner is quick and efficient, the motion the exact same as it was for the Glock she was used to.  She locks the new magazine in place before firing the last four rounds of stage 2, her aim getting closer to more painful areas of the body.

 

 The last beep sounded and Turner once again lowered her gun, removing the magazine and looking at her target.  This time, the shots were more centered and more even, instead of the haphazard shots of stage 1, when she was just getting used to the way the SIG fired.

 

 The instructor begins to talk once more as the target moved to the next distance.  “In this stage, there are once again three sessions. This time the distance is 15 yards, that’s why you are given more time.  Two sessions where you have six seconds to fire 3 rounds, and one where you have 8 seconds to fire four rounds, for a total of ten shots this stage.”

 

 Turner secures the gun after replacing the magazine once more with a full one and puts away her gun.  She knows that she is halfway done and, with some quick half-assed calculations in her head, realizes she needs to score well in the last two stages to pass the evaluation.  She lets out an involuntary sigh before readying herself, her eyes locked on the target.

 

 She draws her weapon when she heard the beep and clasped the SIG in both hands before firing off the three rounds of the session and lowered the gun when the second beep sounded.  Once again the second session went much like the first, with similar results. She wasn’t the best at accuracy, but she had a quick trigger finger after the initial shot, which she knows counts as well.  The last session went a smidge better, and Turner was finally feeling better about handling the SIG.

 

 The instructor steps up once more as the target is moved to the 25-yard mark.  “This is the last stage, 25 yards, once again three sessions. For the first two you have 8 seconds to fire 5 rounds.  I will come with further instructions for the final session.”

 

 Turner nods and repeats what she has done for the previous stages, changing the magazine and holstering the gun.  The first two sessions were uneventful and very alike to the ones from the earlier stages. After the fourth beep of stage 4 had sounded, the instructor steps up to her again.

 

 “For the last session, make sure you have one bullet in your weapon and three in the magazine.  You have a total of twelve seconds to fire eight rounds, with a magazine change. You will start from a position behind one of the walls in your station.  This time you have your weapon drawn beforehand. When the beep is sounded, you step out and fire the four rounds. Then you duck behind the other wall as you change your magazine, before you fire the last four from behind the wall.  After that, your evaluation is over.”

 

 Turner removes the magazine and empties it, before replacing three bullets.  She places another magazine in the room for it beside the holster and steps up behind one wall, standing and mentally preparing for the sharp sound of the beep.  Stepping forward, she aims and fires the four rounds before slipping behind the other wall, taking out the empty magazine and putting in the new one, before turning and firing from behind the wall.  She has taken too much time, however, and only manages to fire three of the four shots before the second beep sounds, signalling the end of the session, the stage, and the evaluation.

 

 The target is removed and the instructor, alongside Gibbs, step up to Turner.  She removes her ear muffs and her safety glasses and lay the three items on the table before turning towards the two men.

 

 “Congratulations on passing your evaluation, Agent Turner”, the instructor says. “Your score was a 70,8%.”  Turner smiles when she hears she has passed, but her smile turned a little stiff when she realized that it had been a close call to not making it.  She turns to face Gibbs fully and quickly realizes he isn’t pleased with her score either, going by the scowl on his face. She sighs. “It was my first time firing the SIG, Agent Gibbs.  I’ll get better once I adjust to using it”, she tries to assure him. What she doesn’t expect is Gibbs’ glare to fix itself on her. To her credit, however, she only cowers a little before recovering.  She can’t hold eye contact, but it is better than nothing.

 

 “That better be the truth, because I’ll be training you until you’re good enough.”  

 

 Turner nods.  “Of course, Gibbs.”  She hasn’t known him for long, but she knows he isn’t a man you want to have on your bad side.  She turns and picks up her gun, removing the magazines from the gun and the holster, laying them both by her station.  The gun was then placed in the holster and Turner moves to follow Gibbs, who had started to leave.

 

 She hurries after him and catches up with him just as he is approaching his car.  

 

 “Back to the Navy Yard, Turner.  I’ll meet you by the armory. Don’t be late”, Gibbs says as he unlocks his car and gets in.  Turner nods silently and goes to her own car, getting in and following the team lead back to the Yard.


	6. A Dreary New Case

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

 

Tony drives to the Navy Yard before Gibbs left, and parks in his spot.  He gets out of the car and locks it behind him. He pulls on the door handle to make sure it's locked before walking towards the entrance.  He walks inside and gets out his wallet, pulling out his employee card as he walked. He swipes his card and steps inside, smiling at Henry, who returned the smile.  He walks up the stairs towards the bullpen, opting not to take the elevator for once. Many chose to use the elevator, but he felt he was being stared at and just wanted to get to work.

 

Entering the bullpen, he smiles when he notices that Alex and Stan are both already at their desks.  Glancing over at the other end, however, makes him sigh. McGee was nowhere to be found. Tony addresses the two present team members.

 

“Good morning, Alex, Stan”, he says.  “Have either of you seen McGee?”

 

“Good morning, Tony.  And no, we haven’t”, Stan tells him, looking up from his computer at the team lead.  “His things aren’t here either, which means he’s late and not just out for coffee.”

 

Tony shakes his head and set down his backpack by his desk.  “Gibbs is with Turner for her qualification, they will join us later.”  The two SFAs both nod and shift their attention back to the cold cases on their desks.  Tony puts his credentials and gun in the drawer of his desk before leaving the bullpen in the direction of the lab. He wants to try to talk to Abby again.  Things can’t go on the way they had.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

The elevator door opens, and immediately Tony's hit with the loud bass of Abby’s music.  He has never understood how the goth was able to work under those conditions, he himself would have gone mad with much less noise.  Walking into the lab, he steps over to the stereo to shut off said noise.

 

“Good morning, Miss Sci-” Tony was cut off by the woman herself.

 

“Tony!  How dare you turn off my music?!”  She snaps, moving towards him.

 

“Miss Sciuto, that noise you call music almost blasted out my eardrums when I arrived.  It is not acceptable in the workplace.” Tony crossed his arms across his chest and stood firm, he doesn’t have the patience for her outbursts.

 

“You have never complained about my music before.  Why start now?” Abby’s eyes were narrowed, and it was then clear to Tony that the younger woman still hasn’t grasped that this is serious and not just a ‘prank’.

 

“Because this sort of behavior is not appropriate at NCIS.  Neither is your outfit, there is a high risk of contaminating the evidence you’re supposed to be processing.”

 

Abby gapes, shock clear in her face, yet only for a moment, as in the next she's pushing at Tony, trying to get him out of her lab.  “Stop pretending you’re my boss, or Tim’s boss, because you’re not! The moment Gibbs is tired of this, this _prank_ , you’re out of here!”

 

Tony takes measured steps backwards.  “Agent Gibbs and I are happily married, Miss Sciuto, and do I need to remind you that I have always been Agent McGee’s superior?”  He clenches his jaw so he won’t snap at her. “I will write you up for insubordination. I came here to talk to you, yet as soon as I entered, I was verbally attacked.”  His voice is measured and calm. He isn’t particularly surprised when Abby pushes him out of the lab and slams the door shut. A click sounded as the door locked, and only a few seconds passed before the loud music once again starts to play.

 

A sigh passes Tony’s lips as he steps back into the elevator, thankfully it's empty so he doesn’t have to school his face into a neutral mask at once.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

McGee enters the bullpen while Tony is in the lab, the cheap laptop weighing down his backpack a surprising amount for a device so small.  He steadily ignores the looks of Stan and Alex as he sits down at his desk. The new double desk system makes him uncomfortable, he doesn’t like the prospect of having another agent so up close to himself while he worked.  He hunches over as he turns on his computer, practically hiding behind the still considerable amount of paperwork stacked on his desk.

 

The young agent is in the same position when Tony arrives, and McGee looks up, only to find the brunet standing by his desk and looking down at him.

 

“Where were you this morning, Agent McGee?” Tony asks politely, a fake smile on his face.  McGee looks at him, his eyebrows furrowed.

 

“I don’t see why you care.  You just tease me when I’m late.  As far as Gibbs knows, I was on time”, he says simply.  Tony cocks an unimpressed eyebrow, his head turning briefly to glance at the two SFAs present.

 

“Was he on time, Agents?” Tony asks, already knowing the answer and just wanting confirmation.

 

“No, he wasn’t”, both Alex and Stan say simultaneously, and Tony turns back to the seated agent in front of him.  “I’m going to write you up for being late and for being rude. Do not forget that you are under investigation, Agent McGee.  Every move you make inside this building will be watched closely.” With that, Tony goes over to his desk and sits down, immediately typing out the write-ups for both Abby and McGee.

 

“Oh, and McGee?  Keep doing your paperwork if you want to be done before the end of the day.”  Tony suppresses the urge to snicker as he looks over and sees the amount of paperwork the younger agent still had to do.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

Turner struggles a bit in the parking lot outside the Navy Yard, before she manages to find a parking spot.  She has seen Gibbs waiting for her and hurries to join him at the entrance. Together, the two agents go through security and head to the armory.  There, they are greeted by Margaret Watkins.

 

“Gibbs, good to see you”, she smiles politely.  “And you must be Agent Turner. Jon and Phyllis were the ones who greeted you yesterday, right?  I’m sorry I was out when you were here last. I’m Margaret Watkins, everyone calls me Midge and the armory is my domain.”

 

Turner smiles and shakes her hand.  “Hannah. Nice to meet you, Midge.”

 

“We’re here to find her a knife”, Gibbs says.  “You got any suggestions?”

 

Midge smiles and walks over to the wall of knives, glancing back at Turner before looking over at the array of possible knives.  She picks up a small, easily concealed steel gray knife.

 

“This is the Kershaw Leek 14C28N.  It’s a partially serrated 3 inch blade, stainless steel with a bead blasted finish.  It’s a very lightweight blade that is easily concealed on your body. I know that’s important for Gibbs.”  Midge hands the knife to Turner, who takes it carefully, holding it close to her face to study it. Both Midge and Gibbs watch the young woman pull out the blade of the knife and inspect it.  The weapons administrator breathes out a small sigh of relief when the young agent smiles.

 

“I like it.  It’ll take some time getting used to carrying a knife with me, but I’m sure it’ll come in handy.”  Turner closes the knife and looks down at herself to try to figure out where to keep it.

 

“Just keeping it in your pocket will suffice for now, Hannah.  Though I do suggest finding a more concealed and more secure way of carrying it when you find the time”, Midge says to her.  Turner nods. “Thanks, Midge”, she says softly and places the knife in her pant pocket. She shakes Midge’s hand once more and looks at Gibbs.  The senior agent has already begun walking towards the door, having nodded his goodbye to Midge as the two women shook hands. Turner smiles once more at Midge before following her team lead.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

Up in his office, Vance is reading through the files on his desk when he is contacted by Pamela.

 

“Director, Mossad Director David is on the line.  He says he needs to speak to you immediately”, his assistant states.  Vance mumbles a profanity under his breath; he wasn’t ready to handle Eli right then.  He takes a deep breath and tells Pamela reluctantly: “Put him on.” Vance stays silent as he waits for Eli to speak.

 

“Leon, shalom my friend.  I want to speak to you about my Ziva”, the Israeli spoke evenly.

 

“Shalom Eli.   I understand you have talked to your daughter, since you have decided to call me”, Vance answers politely, forcing himself not to say anything rude to the Mossad Director, his longtime frenemy. While he was indeed deeply indebted to Eli for saving his life years ago on his first mission, he was no longer willing to hide all the crap Ziva David did over the years. He has to draw the line at some point and not even Eli could force him to take her back.

 

“Yes, we have spoken”, Eli confirms.  “I want you to reconsider her termination from NCIS.  She is a viable asset to Agent Gibbs’ team and should have been treated like one.”

 

Vance lets out a slightly frustrated sigh.  “Eli, I’m not going to sugarcoat this for you, my friend: you know damn well I cannot reinstate her as an agent.  Not after what she did in the squad room. That was unacceptable behavior, and no agent who was there would ever be willing to work with her again. And scuttlebutt will do the rest for all agents not in the building. Your daughter has no respect for the Chain of Command, something she should know for sure as she went through Mossad training and tells everyone how superior Mossad is vs. NCIS. She completely disregards SSA DiNozzo’s orders all the time and questions every order made by SAs Burley and Quinn; she obeys only SSA Gibbs. Noone will trust her being their backup out in the field. She has become a liability and is a danger to the people around her!”

 

Eli is quiet for a moment before he answers. “Thank you my friend for being honest with me. I had no idea Leon, that my Ziva has become this bad; must be the American way of living that got to her head. She was trained better and I’m appalled by her attitude.”

 

“As you should be”, Vance mutters under his breath.  “Her computer has also been taken by our Cyber Division; initially for clean-up only as this is SOP, but after her tantrum, the Head of Cyber decided to have a closer look and started an investigation”, he instead tells Eli. “Better safe than sorry! If no evidence is found incriminating her, I can try to get her a job as liaison on the international desks for the Middle East, but she never will be on a field team again. Best I can come up with, my friend!” It’s where Ziva should have belonged right from the start, Leon muses, he had absolutely no idea why Sheppard put Ziva David on her best team considering that David has had no investigative skills to begin with and was just a tool, a weapon in her father’s grand plan.

 

Eli swallows.  “If my daughter is who I taught her to be, you will not find anything on those computers.  I appreciate the things you did and may be doing for my Ziva. I thank you for all your help and support to my family, Leon. Now, my friend, I unfortunately have to go, I have some business to attend to and I’m already a bit late.  Shalom Leon, my friend. I’ll hope we will see each other soon.”

 

Vance furrows his brows, he doesn’t like the sound of that.  It sounds like Eli is hiding something. And Eli David hiding something is never good.

 

“Shalom Eli”, he answers reluctantly and ends the call, letting out a sigh.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

As Turner and Gibbs were in the elevator on their way back up to the bullpen, Gibbs’ phone rang.  He picks up with a gruff “Yeah, Gibbs” before listening. He thanks the person on the other end of the line and hangs up.  Nothing more is spoken until the two reach the bullpen, where Tony, Alex and Stan look up. McGee was still knee-deep in paperwork and didn’t acknowledge their presence at all.

 

“Grab your gear! Dead sailor in Rock Creek”, Gibbs orders, looking at them.  The three who had looked up stood, grabbing their backpacks as well as their credentials and guns.  All the while Turner just stood beside Gibbs, dumbfounded.

 

“Um, Gibbs?  What gear?” She asks, looking at him.  “I don’t… I don’t have any.”

 

“Gear, things you need out in the field.  Sketchpad, gloves, camera, evidence bags, all of that”, Gibbs tells her.  “When we get back, we’ll go get you your own backpack. This time, you’ll borrow what you need.”

 

Tony, Stan and Alex make their way towards the elevator, with Gibbs and Turner walking behind them.

  
  
“Boss, what about me?” McGee pipes up. Gibbs turns where he stood and glares at the younger agent.  “What about you, McGee? Did you finish your paperwork?” McGee turns a slight shade of pink and starts stuttering “Um.. n-n-no Boss, n-not y-y-yet!” Gibbs glares even more and utters “And there’s your answer! Finish the damn paperwork McGee! It’s long overdue!”  With that, he turns and joins the others in the elevator which was held for him by Tony. The younger lead just raises his eyebrow at Gibbs before stepping fully into the elevator. Gibbs shakes his head and presses the button for the entrance level. Only when Gibbs was facing the other way did Tony reveal a small grin - it wasn’t everyday you heard McGee stutter anymore.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

Arriving at Rock Creek Park, the team mills out of the car and the truck, Tony handing Turner some of his gloves and evidence bags along with a marker.  “Here, Turner. Put on the gloves and start bag and tag any evidence surrounding the body, but do not touch the body until Ducky and Palmer have cleared it. And the rule for the day to learn: #2 - Always wear gloves at a crime scene”.

 

“Thanks, DiNozzo.  But you know, this actually isn’t my first crime scene”, Turner tells him with a small smile as she takes the items, putting on the gloves and pocketing the bags and marker.  “Just the first one where I’m getting this hands-on. And I just need to write this rule down in my phone. You don’t have a list of them handy, do you?”

  
  
Gibbs answers instead “Nope, you will learn them on the job. It’s our job to train you!”

 

“Just great!” Turner mumbles to herself and finally started bagging and tagging.

 

Tony grins like the cheshire cat and gets out his camera, snapping photos of the body while Alex helps Turner bag and tag, and Stan sketches.  Gibbs goes over to the local LEOs and witnesses, talking to them and taking their statements. Tony takes a step towards Gibbs and spoke. “You know, with how many times we’ve been called out here, they should really put out warning signs.  ‘Do Not Enter at Night! Especially if you’re Navy or Marine! You may end up dead!’” he says with a chuckle, and closed his eyes right before the expected head slap reaches him. The younger man turns and grins at Gibbs. “Thank you, boss!” he exclaims, secretly enjoying the look of shock on both LEOs and witnesses at the display.

 

He's about to ask him where Ducky and Palmer were, when the ME and his assistant finally showed.

 

“Where have you been?” Tony asks instead, walking with the two men back to the body.

 

“Doctor Mallard insisted we use his shortcuts instead of the GPS”, Palmer says. “Again”, he adds under his breath, but Tony hears that nevertheless.

 

“Yes, and young Doctor Palmer didn’t listen to me, so we took a wrong turn”, Ducky interrupts.

 

“I did not take a wrong turn, I drove where you told me to, and it got us in the wrong place.”

 

Tony shakes his head and crouches next to the body.  “His ID says he is Petty Officer Second Class Thomas Evan Boswell”, he speaks to gain the attention of the doctors.  “He was found half an hour ago by the couple talking to Gibbs, they were out on their daily run when they found him.”

 

Ducky bends down to examine the body.  “Well, judging by the amount of blood around him, my guess is that he was killed here and not merely dumped, as one could assume.”

 

Tony nods.  “We were waiting for you before we took his prints to confirm ID, Ducky.”

 

“Thank you, Anthony.  Go ahead, take his fingerprint”, Ducky tells him, beginning to examine the body with Palmer’s help.  The team finishes with the evidence at the scene and confirms the body was, in fact, the Petty Officer.  The body was placed into the truck, and Ducky and Palmer left going back to the Navy Yard, followed by the team members.  Tony and Stan take the truck with the evidence, while Alex, Turner and Gibbs went back in the car.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

Heading back to the Navy Yard, Turner and Alex go with Gibbs up to the bullpen to find out more about their dead sailor while Tony and Stan bring the evidence to Abby’s lab.  Entering, they find that once again the music was playing too loudly, and Tony moves to turn it down until it's barely audible. The scientist turns to face them, and seeing that the two men both carried boxes of evidence, goes over to help.  She takes the box from Stan and moves it over to the table, beginning to unpack it without paying any attention to Tony. Tony sets down his box next to the other one and steps back. Glancing to his side, he knows that Stan has noticed that Abby is ignoring the team lead.

 

“Miss Sciuto, you are not addressing the highest ranking member of the team”, Stan tells her.  “It’s Agent DiNozzo you should be talking to, not me.”

 

“And if I don’t want to talk to him, Stan?”  Abby brushes him off and continues unpacking the evidence from Stan’s box.

 

“That will be one more write up for insubordination, Miss Sciuto”, Tony simply informes.  “And you will address both Agent Burley and myself with respect. Your actions are getting out of hand and will soon have to be dealt with should you wish to remain with NCIS.”  He signes the papers for delivering of evidence and then leaves the lab, entering the elevator and holding it open for Stan, who isn’t far behind, shaking his head at Sciuto's stupidity.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

The two agents enters the bullpen, both going over to their desks and sitting down.  Tony only sat for as long as it took to write up Abby for insubordination again before he stood, announcing that he’s going for coffee.  He's pleasantly surprised when Gibbs decided to accompany him to the coffee cart. They step into the elevator, and Tony let the doors close before he spoke.

 

“Abby and McGee still doesn’t seem to get it into their heads that this, us, the team, everything, is real.  I’ve had to write Abby up for insubordination twice today. First because she locked me out of her lab when I went to speak with her, and the second just now for ignoring me and being generally rude.”

 

A sigh passes Gibbs’ lips as the older man shakes his head.  “McGee isn’t much better.”

 

“He isn’t.  He’s gotten two write ups in as many days.”  They walk out towards the coffee cart together.  They order their coffees and a second to-go set for them as well the rest of the team and paid for the items.  It ends up as a slight balancing act for Tony to carry the to-go set in one hand and his own coffee in the other, but with some maneuvering, he manages it.  They walk slowly back, making sure none of the hot liquid is spilled on either of them. Once Tony has found his balance, he looked at Gibbs.

 

“What are we going to talk about when we meet with Chegwidden?” Tony asks, knowing they have to talk about it, and that now is as good a time as any.

 

“We have to talk about what we are going to sue for, and who do we sue against.  McGee’s publisher is as much at fault as McGee, should we sue her as well? And we have to make sure Ducky and Palmer are on board with it too.”  Tony nods as he listens, stepping into the elevator.

 

“We should sue the publisher as well, she should have noticed what McGee was writing”, he says. “At least, she should have noticed the missing permissions because she knew his real identity, working as a NCIS agent and followed up on that. And if she would have done her job, she would have covered her behind and put her Legal team onto it.”

 

Gibbs nods.  “But she didn't.”  The elevator doors open and the agents step out into the bullpen, going over to their team.  Tony sets the tray on his desk alongside his cup and distributes the other cups to the team, making sure Turner got her green tea.  The young woman smiles and thanks them for remembering she didn't like coffee, and everyone drink of their cups as they get back to work.  Tony himself sits down as he drinks his doctored coffee, a small smile playing on his lips because of the taste. Gibbs shares a look with the other team lead and just nodded towards the back elevator before walking in that direction, disappearing down to the lab.


	7. Burglars, Hackers and Probies, oh My!

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

 

Gibbs enters the lab and goes over to the stereo, turning off the music.  The scientist turned to glare angrily at the visitor, but her face lights up as she notices it’s Gibbs and not Tony standing there. “Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs!” she enthusiastically greets him. She hurries over to him and opens her arms for a hug, but Gibbs ducks and sidesteps her.  She looks surprised and confused at the same time for a moment, but starts rambling directly afterwards. 

 

“What do you want, Gibbs?  My babies aren’t done yet with the evidence, the tests aren’t finished, I don’t have anything for you”, she says, looking at him.  “And where’s my Caf-Pow?” Her eyes are fixed on Gibbs’ face expectantly, but he shows only his well trained blank mask. He raises his hands, making Abby’s attention move to them.

 

“They’re empty, Gi-” she stops talking when the hands begin moving, signing.

 

_ “Listen very closely,  I shall say this only once.” _  After making sure Abby isn’t going to interrupt him, Gibbs begins to speak.

 

“Tony told me about your behavior earlier today.  This ends now, Abs!” His voice is a growl, a sneer.

 

“But Gibbs, Ton...”  Abby trails off when Gibbs begins to sign, the movements harsh and clear and making it obvious Gibbs is getting pissed off, fast.

 

_ “Shut up and listen.” _  Looking up at his face, Abby flinches when she sees the disappointment there.

 

“Stop this, Abigail. Unless you want to become number 1 on my shitlist, because right now you’re on a fast track right to the top.  And I can promise you, you won’t like the outcome of that one bit!” With that, Gibbs turns and leaves the lab, slamming the door shut behind himself and leaving Abby to her own devices, completely ignorant of her indignant outburst.  The goth moves around her lab on heavy feet, mumbling angrily to herself. “Stupid Gibbs”, “doesn’t know Tony is just using him” and “can’t believe Tony lured Gibbs in on this prank” are all phrases that can be heard, if one cares enough to listen.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

As Gibbs enters the bullpen, he looks around at his working team with a sense of pride.  Even though they were new to his team, Turner and Quinn found their places with ease and worked well with Stan and Tony.

 

“Talk to me”, he barks, as he stands in the middle of the bullpen, watching as Stan and Alex stand and move over to the plasma between Tony and Stan.  Turner looks up and watches them, but otherwise doesn’t react, because she doesn’t know what to do. Suddenly the Gibbs glare is directed at her.

 

“You waiting for an invitation, Turner?”  Turner opens her mouth to answer as she stands, going over to the rest of the team, not hearing McGee’s quiet snicker as the junior agent was addressed.

 

“Sorry, Gibbs”, she mumbles and stands next to Stan.

 

Alex speaks first.  “Petty Officer Second Class Thomas Evan Boswell was assigned to the USS Majestic, currently docked at Norfolk base.  The crew has been on leave for ten days. None of his crewmates had reported him missing at the time his body was found.”

 

Stan takes over.  “Boswell was reported to have sporadic anger problems and would irregularly lash out at his superiors and fellow crew members.  Other than that, he was an ordinary officer. He was not involved with any sensitive information or anything secret, research or otherwise.  For a navy officer getting killed, Boswell was surprisingly unremarkable.”

 

They all turn to look at Turner, who looks back at them, unsure.  Tony stands and speaks. “Turner, what have you found?” He asks, nodding to the screen.

 

Turner takes the remote from Stan and clicks it and up comes a photo of Palmer and his turkey experiment. Turner turns a nice shade of pink while Alex states “Wrong button!”  Turner looks questioning at her, but Alex mouths a silent ‘later’ to her. After clicking on the correct button a video comes up. “Boswell was a member of this gym, and during his leave, he was seen entering and leaving every day.”  A video of Boswell entering the gym and talking to a man plays on the screen. “Boswell made friends with this man, Keith Taylor Jones, at this gym, and on several occasions, they were spotted leaving together.” She sets down the remote after shutting off the video, signalling she had said everything she had.

 

Tony took this as his cue to start.  “I spoke to his CO, Chief Petty Officer Christian T. Garrett.  He confirmed that Boswell occasionally had anger issues, but that it was very rare.  Other than that, he didn’t have much to say. He didn’t stand out much. Like Burley said, he’s a shockingly normal guy for a dead navy officer.”

 

He looks past the team to McGee.  “Agent McGee, are you planning to be finished with your paperwork anytime soon?”  His questioning eyes are met with a glare.

 

“Yes, Tony, I'll be finished soon”, McGee says sharply.  “I’d be done faster if you didn’t bug me about it all the time”, he grumbles.

 

“McGee, quit it with the attitude!”  Gibbs barks, stepping over to his desk.  “Unless you want even more paperwork to do. And you’re this close to a #10 sort-out.”  McGee looks up at Gibbs, eyes wide. “U-Um, n-no, of course not, Gibbs. S-Sorry.” He turns back to his paperwork silently, hiding his face as he continued typing, the tapping of his keyboard the only sound in their area of the bullpen.  The rest of the team quietly make their way back to their desks and sits down, a choir of keyboard strokes joining McGee’s as the agents went back to work.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

Out by Tony’s old apartment, Jennifer was on her way out of her own apartment and has just opened the door when she spots a woman standing in front of Tony DiNozzo’s, her neighbor’s, door.  She watches the woman, who is wearing dark clothes and has her dark hair up in a ponytail, try to open the door to the apartment. It’s obvious she doesn’t have a key, and Jennifer knows Tony only gave his key to the silver-haired man whom he lived with.  This woman couldn’t have been invited. Silently, the woman opens the door and steps inside, the door sliding shut behind her. Jennifer takes her chance and closes the door to her own apartment and reaches for her phone, quickly dialling 911.

 

Inside Tony’s apartment, Ziva looks around in stumped shock.  There’s nothing there. It’s just an empty room, it looks like it could be ready for sale.  “Where is everything?” She mumbles to herself. Ziva walks through the apartment and finds the other rooms in the same state: empty.

 

As she turns to leave, she hears police sirens getting louder before stopping outside the apartment complex.  Ziva hurries out of the apartment, leaving the door open behind her as she flees. Down on the first floor, she keeps calm as Metro PD policemen move past her towards the stairs.  She walks calmly so she doesn’t attract attention and leaves, getting into her car and driving off.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

The team is busy making calls and typing on their computers when Ellie Bishop arrives.  She stands in front of Gibbs’ desk with a smile, vibrating with excitement and waiting to be acknowledged.  Her presence wasn’t going unnoticed by the other team members, but Gibbs doesn’t look up for another few minutes.  When he does, he takes in Bishop’s excitement and looks up at her face. “Bishop.” He finally acknowledged her, letting a small smile slip.

 

“Hi, Agent Gibbs.  I was down with HR and sorted out my forms”, Bishop says, almost bouncing on the balls of her feet.  “I’ve only got one more day at the NSA to hand in my work. Your HR helped me get the refresher course at FLETC, I’ll start there as soon as I’m done with my work at the NSA.  And don’t worry, I’ll get the psychological evaluation out of the way as soon as my refresher course is over. Might be sooner, depending on when Doctor Cranston has time for me.  I’ll make sure to call and set up an appointment.”

 

Gibbs nodded while he listened and stands when the analyst is finished.  “So you’ll be joining our team around November 7th then, Bishop.” He walks around his desk and nods to Tony, who follows his lead and stands.

 

“Team, say hello to our new Probie, Ellie Bishop.  Bishop, these are Agents Hannah Turner and Tim McGee, and Senior Field Agents Stan Burley and Alexandra Quinn, whom you met on your last visit here.”

 

Bishop smiles and waves at everyone, receiving a wave and a “hello” from every agent, even McGee, who took a few seconds out of his time to greet the newcomer with a tight smile before he turns back to his work, his face returning to its original, half-pissed off look.

 

The last to greet Bishop was Quinn, and she smiled at her.  “Hey, Bishop. It’s nice to see you again. I remember you from two years ago. You always sat near the vending machines during the breaks, working on your laptop.”

 

Bishop smiles as she greets Quinn.  “It’s nice to see you again as well, Agent Quinn.”

 

“I also remember while you were not the most naturally-skilled agent, you were persistent.  You had potential, and you never made the same mistakes twice.” Bishop’s smile grows as she listens to Quinn.

 

“So you really do remember.”

 

“Yeah, I remember all my students”, Quinn tells her with a quick grin.  “Surely, you must be on your way back to NSA, we won’t keep you any longer.”

 

Bishop nods.  “I’ll see you again, sooner than you think.”  She smiles, waving as she walks towards the elevators, disappearing inside it right before the doors closed.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

By the end of the day, they haven’t gotten the results from autopsy or the other evidence.  With no leads, neither team lead see a reason to keep the team there. Tony checks his watch before standing.  “Okay, team, head home, be back by 8AM.” He bends down to pick up his bag, and when he straightens up again, every team member except McGee are standing and grabbing their own belongings, before hurrying towards the elevator.  The remaining junior agent is typing at a furious rate, making Tony cock an eyebrow at him before turning to Gibbs. The older lead just shrugs and walks to the elevator after their team, and Tony follows after another moment of hesitation.

 

If anyone had seen McGee’s screen, they would have seen an email being typed quickly.

 

_ To: <Abby Sciuto>abigail.sciuto@ncis.navy.mil _

_ From: <Tim McGee>timothy.mcgee@ncis.navy.mil _

_ Subject: Dinner? _

 

_ Hey, _

_ We need to talk tonight.  Can you come over with dinner at seven?  I have what we need. _

 

_ Tim _

 

The sender glances around the bullpen before pressing send and then shutting off his computer and standing.  McGee grabs his bag and stands, leaving the Navy Yard without looking up from the floor.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

Tony’s in the kitchen, cooking dinner for them, when his phone rings.  He picks up and holds the phone between his shoulder and head as he speaks.

 

“DiNozzo, who is this?”

 

“This is Detective Oswald from Metro PD.  Is this Anthony DiNozzo, registered at 1743 P street northwest, apartment 3F?”

 

Tony furrows his brows as he answers.  Being asked that can never be a good thing.  “Yes, that's me.”

 

“There has been a reported break-in at your apartment, we have a description and a sketch from a witness.  Can you come in and have a look to see if you recognize them?”

 

Tony stops moving when he hears that his apartment has been broken into, and is silent for a few moments before answering.  “Yes, yes, I’ll come in first thing tomorrow. Thank you for contacting me, Detective Oswald.”

 

“We will be expecting your arrival, Mr DiNozzo.”  Tony sighs after hanging up and sets his phone down on the counter.  Who would have broken into his apartment? Shrugging it off and deciding to put off the brooding until he had more information, he finishes making dinner and serves it up on two plates.  Knowing his husband is busy in the basement working on his boat, Tony places one plate in the microwave for him and brings the other with him into the living room. He slumps down onto the couch and turns on the TV, flipping through channels until he finds a movie.  He enjoys the movie along with his dinner and makes sure to clean up after himself in the kitchen when he’s done. Seeing that Jethro still hadn’t eaten, Tony goes to the basement and stands at the top of the stairs.

 

“Jeth, I’m heading to bed.  Your dinner is in the microwave, you do need to eat.  Are you coming?” He asks as he leans on the bannister, watching his husband with a smile.

 

“Yeah, I’ll be there soon”, is the answer he gets from the man behind the boat.  Satisfied with the answer, Tony leaves the room with the door ajar. He walks up to the bedroom and gets ready for bed before sliding under the covers.

 

Tony’s almost asleep when he feels the bed dip down and a body join his under the blanket.  An arm is wrapped around his waist and pulls him close against his husband, and he shifts minutely to get even closer as he drifts off to sleep, a relaxed sigh falling from his lips as he falls.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

There’s a knock on the door while McGee is sitting on his couch with the new computer in front of him, his watch blinking 7:00 at him.  He stands and opens the door, revealing Abby with a bag of takeout dinner. McGee lets her in and goes with her back to the laptop, making room for her on the couch next to himself.  Abby takes the offered seat and hands McGee one of the chinese takeout containers. He takes the container and opens it, beginning to eat.

 

They’re silent as they eat, watching the laptop as it sits ominously on the table in front of them.  When the takeout is taken care of, McGee moves the laptop towards them. He leans over it and plugs in a memory stick.  From it, he opens a program he’d partially written and installs it on the laptop. Abby watches her partner work silently for a while, before speaking up.

 

“Where should we do this?  We need a public Wi-Fi spot, so we can’t be traced.”

 

“Why not just use the Starbucks near Capitol Hill?  It’s popular and many use their laptops at Starbucks”, McGee suggests, looking at her.

 

“For the Wi-Fi, not lunch.  Starbucks has good coffee, but we need food too. There has to be a café down the street from Starbucks, I’m sure of it.  We can eat there first and then move”, Abby adds, looking at him. McGee nods slowly as he keeps typing. “Yeah, sure, sounds good”, he says offhandedly, only halfway paying attention to her.  This doesn’t go unnoticed by Abby, who punches his arm. “McGee, are you listening to me?”

  
McGee looks up from his computer and looks at her.  “Ow! Yes, Abby, I am listening to you. Here, there’s a café just a few blocks down, Sweetgreen. 221 Pennsylvania Avenue, south-east.”  McGee points to the map on the computer. “Meet you there during lunch.”   
  
They discuss in detail what they want to do and how to hide their trail, before calling it a night. Abby left, went down to the parking lot and got into her vintage Hot Rod, driving home. She couldn’t wait for the next day to finally reveal Tony’s prank to all members of NCIS and then she would be Gibbs’ favorite once again!


	8. Puzzle Pieces

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Tony opens his eyes to find himself alone in bed the next morning.  The space next to him is still warm and the shower is running. He is tempted to join his husband in the shower, but one glance at his alarm clock shows him he doesn’t have time.  Instead, he slips into the bathroom to shave and brush his teeth. He’s so focused on his tasks that he doesn’t notice the shower is off before a kiss is planted on his neck.

 

“Morning, Jeth”, Tony hums after spitting.  “Why don’t you go downstairs and get breakfast started before we try to do something we really don’t have time for?”  He lets out a laugh at the face Jethro makes at him in the mirror, but the man does as he’s told and leaves the bathroom with a towel on his head.

 

Tony shakes his head and finishes up in the bathroom.  Stepping out into the bedroom, he watches Jethro try to glare his hair into submission in the mirror.   _It seems his hair is stubborn, just like the man it belongs to,_ Tony thinks to himself as he bites back a snicker.  He walks over and takes the comb from the other, helping him settle his hair the way Jethro likes it.  

 

“There we go. You should really know by now that your hair can’t be glared into place, darlin’.”  Tony grins as he pulls away, going over to his closet to get dressed. He hears Jethro leave the bedroom and the creaks of the stairs and smiles to himself.  The domesticity of it all was a joy to the younger man every day. He makes his way downstairs to find the coffee brewing and Jethro in front of the stove, and the familiar sizzling of bacon is heard and smelled.  Tony busies himself with getting out plates and cutlery for them, working in perfect tandem with Jethro. They’re seated with their breakfast in front of them before either speaks again.

 

“Jeth, I have to go to Metro PD before work today, so I’ll be late”, Tony begins, looking up at his husband.

 

“Tony, what’s happened?”

 

“I should have told you last night, but you were busy in the basement.  While I was making dinner, I got a call from them. There was a break-in at my apartment yesterday.  They want me to come in and take a look at the sketch they have from a witness. If I’d have to take a guess, I’d say the witness is Jennifer, my neighbor; she’s way too curious about other people’s lives. Biggest nosy Nancy in the whole building.”

 

“Do you have any idea who it was?”  Jethro asks him after taking a sip of his coffee.

 

“No, not really.  After finding out, I kind of refused to think about it.”  Tony shrugs his shoulder and continues to eat. Jethro simply nods and follows Tony’s example, eating in silence.  After their plates and coffee cups are empty, Tony stands and takes them to the sink, washing them. Jethro steps into the living room and takes out the smartphone Tony had bought him, dialling Chegwidden’s number.  No answer came, so he leaves a message telling him to call him back. The two team leads reach the front door together and share a short kiss before they get into their cars and head out, Tony to the Metro PD station and Jethro to the Navy Yard.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

Tony walks into the station and goes through security before he is shown to Detective Oswald’s desk, where the man is waiting for him.

 

“Detective Oswald, you called me last night about a burglary at my apartment?”

 

“Yes, Mr DiNozzo, I have the sketch right here.”  Tony is handed a piece of paper with a sketch, and he takes a single look at the sketch before passing it back.  “Her name is Ziva David, she’s a former subordinate. She is on her way back to Israel now.” _I hope_ , he mumbles under his breath.   _For her own sake_.

 

“Mr DiNozzo, when my officers reached your apartment, there was nothing left.  No furniture of any kind. Was there anything in there before Miss David broke into your apartment?”

 

Tony shakes his head.  “No, there wasn’t, Detective.  I am in the process of moving and in fact, I am putting my apartment up for sale very soon.”  The small lie was easy and went undetected by the detective, who nods as he listens.

 

“Okay, so nothing was stolen by Miss David?”

 

“There was nothing there for her to steal, so no, Detective.”  Tony smiles at him and moves to stand. “If that is all, Detective, I am going to leave.  I have to get to work and my boss is a real hard-ass.”

 

“Of course, Mr DiNozzo.  Do you want us to find Miss David and question her?”  Detective Oswald rose from his seat.

 

“That won’t be necessary, nothing was stolen.  And like I said earlier, Detective, she’s on her way back to Israel, so she won’t be a problem for either of us.  This is better to be left alone than to waste resources better used elsewhere.” The smile is gone and Tony’s eyes are hard as he locks eyes with the detective.  Detective Oswald holds eye contact for a moment before glancing down at his desk, shuffling papers. “Understood, Mr DiNozzo. Have a nice day.”

 

Tony nods and turns away, walking out of the station.  He got into his car, letting out a sigh. Starting his car and buckling up, Tony wonders how things are going at the Navy Yard while he’s been away.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

After parking his car and getting out, Gibbs goes directly through to the coffee cart and orders four coffees, two for himself and one for each SFA.  He holds the tray of three cups in his left hand and the fourth cup in his right, taking occasional sips as he walked. Reaching the bullpen, he is greeted by the two Senior Field Agents as well as Turner.  Gibbs spots McGee’s bag by his desk, but the man himself is nowhere in sight.

 

“Morning, Gibbs”, Alex smiles and takes the offered coffee with a grateful smile.  The second coffee is passed to Stan, who greets Gibbs similarly, adding a “thank you” for the coffee.  Gibbs then sets the tray with the single coffee left on his desk, next to his own half-drunk cup. Glancing at Turner, Gibbs thinks for a moment before taking the final coffee and passing it along to the new team member.

 

“Oh!  Thank you, Agent Gibbs.” She smiles brightly at the unexpected friendliness of her new boss as she takes the cup and sips from it slowly.  Her superior back at the FBI had never brought her anything except more paperwork. The coffee has a more bitter taste than she prefers, but caffeine is caffeine, and she had forgone her green tea this morning, as she hadn’t wanted to be late.  Her second alarm had been ten minutes late, which meant the ten-minute detour for her tea had to be sacrificed.

 

Gibbs sits down by his desk and his eyes are once again drawn to the empty desk in front of Turner.  “Where is McGee?” Stan, who had looked back down at his computer, looks up at the empty desk. “He arrived, set down his bag, booted up his computer, and then left to the back elevator.  Without a word to either of us”, he answers.

 

Alex, anticipating Gibbs’ next order, grabs her phone and dials McGee’s number, ordering him back up to the bullpen.  After hanging up, she looks over at Gibbs and is rewarded with a small smile and a nod. She returns the smile before going shifting her attention back to her computer.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

After McGee answers the call and puts down his phone, he barely looks at Abby as he leaves the lab, taking the elevator up to the bullpen.  Reaching the bullpen, he is met with a team leader who clearly has run out of patience.

 

“Are you done with your paperwork, McGee?”  Gibbs asks, watching the man intently. McGee nods slowly.  “Y-yes, boss.”

 

“Well?  What are you waiting for, then?  Put the finished paperwork on DiNozzo’s desk”, Gibbs barks.  McGee does as he’s told, shuffling the massive amounts of paperwork onto Tony’s desk, before moving back to his own to sit down.  Suddenly Gibbs is in front of him, glaring at him. “Your gun and badge, _now_.”

 

“W-what?  B-boss?” McGee stammers, looking at Gibbs.

 

“You’re on suspension without pay until further notice.  You’re not allowed in the building or anywhere near NCIS, except for your hearings by IA; Legal and whomever. Give me your gun and badge now, Agent McGee.  And go home.”

 

“B-But Gibbs, do I have to leave?”  McGee asks, his voice barely managing to hide a whine.

 

“Yes, McGee, you _have to_ .  You can come back if or when Legal and/or IA has cleared you.”   _With this attitude and the evidence against him, it’s highly unlikely_ , Gibbs thinks to himself, watching the stammering agent.  “What part of suspended do you not understand?” He gestures to the gun and badge on McGee’s desk, and McGee reluctantly takes them, passing them to Gibbs.  Gibbs takes both items and goes back to his desk, still watching McGee. The suspended agent collects his personal things slowly, and by the time he’s done packing, two agents have arrived to accompany him out.  McGee keeps his eyes down as he walks, not looking at anyone.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

Not long after McGee has been escorted out of the building, Gibbs receives a call.  “Yeah Gibbs.”

 

“Jethro, can you come down to Autopsy?”  Ducky’s voice sounds over the phone.

 

“On my way, Duck.”  Gibbs hangs up and gets to his feet, walking to the elevator and stepping in, pressing the button for the autopsy floor.

 

Walking into autopsy, Gibbs hears Ducky talk to Palmer, having gone on another tangent about some story from when the ME was younger.

 

“I’m here, Duck.  What do ya got?” Gibbs interrupts, moving to stand next to Palmer.

 

“Well, Jethro, as thought when we first arrived at the scene, our Petty Officer died of exsanguination, one of the stab wounds grazed his femoral artery.  Now, I did find some fibers under his nails, it seems he put up a fight with his attacker. I’ve sent them up to Abby to be examined.”

 

“Thanks, Duck”, Gibbs nods at the two doctors before leaving, heading up to the lab to see if Abby has anything yet.  He also hopes the young goth has grown up and realized this was serious.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

The music is blaring from the lab, and the bass hits Gibbs’ chest hard as he steps out of the elevator.  He absently rubs his chest as he walks into the lab, his hand reaching out and turning off the music. He lets out a breath he wasn’t aware he had been holding as Abby turns around, her Caf!-Pow in hand.  She smiles widely at Gibbs.

 

“Hi, Gibbs!”  She chirps, practically skipping over to him.  She wraps her lips around the straw and sucks, a loud slurping sound filling the silence in between them.  Gibbs watches her, unamused. He knows the happiness won’t last, and his suspicions are proven right when Abby’s smile is replaced with a small pout.  “Where’s my Caf!-Pow, Gibbs?” The now empty cup is shaken right in front of Gibbs’ face.

 

Gibbs cocks an unimpressed eyebrow.  “You really think that, after your behavior yesterday, you deserve one from me?  I’m no longer paying for your excessive Caf!-Pow drinking, and neither is anyone else; if you want one, go buy it yourself.”

 

Abby’s face falls and turns back to her station, her previous enthusiasm gone.

 

“What do you have for me, Sciuto?”  Gibbs asks, walking further into the lab.

 

“There were two types of blood on his clothes, one belonging to him, and the other’s is still running through the databases, it could be the killer.  The fibers Ducky brought me didn’t fit with any of the clothes he was wearing when he was killed. They seem to be from some kind of sportswear, probably belonging to the killer as well.”

 

“Let DiNozzo know as soon as you have the DNA from the second blood type and more on that sportswear.  And if I hear that you disrespect him once more, you’ll be on your way out of NCIS, trust me.” Gibbs leaves the lab before he gets an answer, grumbling under his breath.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

It’s the middle of the night, and two men are seen in the Mossad director’s office, talking in hushed voices.

 

“Hadar, extract my Ziva from the US and bring her back to Israel and to Mossad.  It needs to happen as soon as possible, do you understand?”

 

Hadar nods.  “I understand, Director.”

 

“It is of utmost importance that this is executed immediately, before my Ziva is faced with espionage charges because of her work.  She may have been sloppy and the Americans may find proof of what she has done. Make sure it is handled discreetly.”

 

Another nod from Hadar.  “Of course, Director. I will head out immediately.”  Hadar left and Eli once again took his place behind the old wooden desk.

 

Eli trusted Amit Hadar, who is a longtime confidant and who also knows his daughter. Ziva would hopefully let Hadar do his job instead of causing more trouble.  
  
Eli lights a cigar, still musing about his Ziva and where and when she became more a problem than the solution. He had so high hopes when he managed to get her on the NCIS MCRT team. Thankfully Shepard was easily played and would have done anything for information about René Benoit, so getting Ziva on the team was easier than he thought. And Vance was even easier to manipulate considering that he, Eli David, had saved Leon Vance’s ass years ago in Amsterdam. The Russian would have killed him.  
  
Ziva got the highest security clearance while on the MCRT, yet his Ziva never managed to get access to the really important secret files like the ones from the Pentagon or the CIA or the NSA.  She should have set her eyes on Junior Agent McGee instead of Agent DiNozzo, or Agent Meatball, as his daughter had referred to him, even if he was the Senior Agent.

And this Agent Gibbs really was a pain. He was way too smart to trust his Ziva with important things, playing them close to the chest. He somehow could see behind her mask and only let her in to some degree. Damn. Even Agent Meatball was smarter than he thought, Eli remembered, the Rivkin debacle and the interrogation where Agent Meatball turned the table and made him admit that Rivkin followed his orders. Double Damn. Ziva’s dossiers must have been wrong and they all worked on the wrong assumptions she made. The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry - thanks to his Ziva, Eli thought grimly.

 

Ziva could be glad she was his only living blood relative, but he was done with her sloppy work. Somewhere along the way, she became unreliable and she needed to be retrained.  Decision made, Eli calls his driver, leaves the office and goes home.


	9. More Puzzle Pieces

Thursday, October 27, 2011

 

Gibbs returns to the squad room to find his entire team hard at work.  They all look up at him when he begins to speak.  “He died from the stab wounds, and fought his attacker.  Two types of blood was found on his clothes, and he had fibers under his nails that weren’t from his own clothes.  When DiNozzo gets back, Burley, you and Turner recanvas Rock Creek, search for the murder weapon.”

 

“Yes, Gibbs”, came from the agents addressed.  Burley and Turner both turn their attention back to their computers afterward, but Turner’s attention is brought back to Gibbs when her name is called.

 

“Turner, with me.”  Gibbs waits for her to stand before he heads for the elevator.

 

“Gibbs, where are we going?”  Turner asks as soon as she catches up with him.

 

“The armory.  You need field gear, and better to get it out of the way before DiNozzo comes back, we’ll waste less time.”  Gibbs enters the elevator and presses the button for the correct floor.  Turner steps in next to him as she nods. They walk into the armory together and are met by Midge.  

 

“Gibbs, Turner, nice to see you again!  What can I do for you today?”  She smiles at them.

 

“Turner needs field gear.  The whole package, Midge.”

 

Midge nods.  “Lucky for you, I’ve got finished packages for new recruits.  It’s got the sketchpad, gloves, evidence bags, camera and extra memory cards as well as a tablet.  I got ‘em in recently, so you’re in luck, young lady.”

 

She leads Turner over to the bags and hands her one.  Turner takes the bag and opens it, rummaging through the rucksack.  She finds all the items except the memory cards.

 

“Em, Midge? Where are those memory cards you mentioned?”  As a response to this question, Midge grins and steps forward, showing Turner the small pocket for the memory cards.  “There they are, Turner.  And the chargers for the tablet and the camera are in the pocket right next to the cards.  Make sure to keep the tablet charged, it’s a power drainer in the cold.  I’d also suggest an extra power bank as well, just in case.”

 

Turner smiles and nods.  “Thanks, Midge, I’ll remember that.  Wouldn’t want to run out of power while out there in the field.”  She takes the bag back and closes it, then grabs one of the straps and shifts it onto her shoulder.  “You wouldn't happen to have any bullet resistant phone cases as well?” She asks with a slight grin.

 

“Unfortunately, they are still in the prototype stage”, Midge teases back.   “Was there anything else I could do for the two of you today?”  She looks over at Gibbs with a cocked eyebrow and a slight grin, knowing that the lead agent would have already been heading out of the armory if the field gear was all they were there for.

 

“She needs an overnight bag too, Midge.  Got any?”

 

“What do you take me for, Gibbs?  Of course I’ve got ‘em!”  Midge lets out a chuckle and moves over to a cupboard.  She opens it and pulls out a medium sized black bag, not unlike most bags used for exercise gear, and hands it to Turner.  The younger agent takes it with a soft smile in Midge’s direction.

 

“And I take it you know what to bring for an overnight stay, so I won’t pester you with explaining”, Midge winks at her, making Turner chuckle lightly.

 

“Thank you, Midge, and yes, I do know what to bring.”  Turner holds the bag and turns to face Gibbs, only to find that his back is turned to her and he is instead facing the door.  She glances at Midge, who shoos her in Gibbs’ direction with a chuckle.

 

“Go, follow Gibbs, I know him and he doesn’t normally say bye.  It’s okay.”  Turner nods and follows Gibbs, waving goodbye to Midge as she does.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

Tony spent the drive to NCIS thinking about the break-in, and Ziva, and he feels increasingly upset as the Navy Yard approaches.  He has to take a deep breath after parking the car to calm himself.  Exiting the car, Tony clenches and unclenches his fists as he walks towards the building.  He nods to the guard and fakes a smile as he enters and takes the elevator up to the squad room.

 

Reaching the bullpen, he’s greeted by the two SFAs and Turner, but Gibbs is nowhere to be found.  Both Stan and Alex notice that something is up with their lead agent, but wisely choose not to ask, especially not in front of the junior agent.

 

“Good morning, Agents.  Where’s Gibbs?”  Tony asks as he takes a seat, nodding over at the empty desk.

 

“He’s up in MTAC. SecNav wants Gibbs as her Head of Protection Detail for the Marine Ball.  He’s video conferring with the Head of Security to hash out a plan as we speak”, Alex tells him.

 

“And he wanted Turner and I to go back to Rock Creek Park to search for the knife as soon as you got here”, Stan continues as he glances over at Turner, who nods.  “He also went with me to the armory to get me my gear, so I’m ready to get to work, Agent DiNozzo”, she says confidently with a smile on her face.

 

Tony can’t help but let out a small chuckle, Turner’s chirpy attitude spreading to him.  “Alright, well, I’m here now, so what are you waiting for?  Get to work, you two.”  He watches the two agents get their bags and head for the elevator, and looks at Alex.  “You and I, Quinn, we’re going to interview the gym owner.  Maybe he knows something.”

 

Alex nods and stands up, getting her coat.  “Lead the way, boss”, she says with a smile as she walks with Tony to the elevator.  She considers asking Tony about his morning now that they’re alone, but ultimately decides against it, figuring the man would tell the team if he deemed it necessary.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

When they reach the gym, Tony and Alex head inside and make their way over to the receptionist.

 

“Hello, we’re Special Agents DiNozzo and Quinn from NCIS, we’re looking for the owner, a Travis Ramsey?”  Tony introduces them to the woman behind the counter, who smile at them.  “He’s right back here, Agents, go right ahead.  You can’t miss his office.”  She points to the door behind her.

 

“Thank you”, says Tony with a soft nod, and Alex leads the way into the office.  The man sitting behind the desk clearly uses his own gym a lot, and uses much of his money on grooming himself.  Tony introduces them again, and Ramsey asks them to take a seat, but both agents choose to remain on their feet.

 

“Mr Ramsey, do you recognize this man?”  Alex slides a photo of PO Boswell across the desk to Ramsey, who reaches for it and picks it up.  

 

“Yes, I have seen him around. Doesn’t really bother anyone, has a few friends.  But I don’t make a habit of spying on my customers, Agents, so I don’t know much about him.”  Ramsey hands the picture back to them and leans back in his chair.

 

Tony and Alex look at each other and figure that trying to get more out of Ramsey would be futile.  “Well, thanks for your help, Mr Ramsey.  Give me a call if you remember anything else.” Tony takes his card out of his wallet and gives it to Ramsey before moving to leave the office.  Alex quickly follows him, shutting the door behind them.

 

As they make their way out of the gym, the man they'd seen on the security footage, Keith Jones, exits one of the locker rooms with a bag flung over one shoulder.  The agents share another glance before approaching him.

 

“Mr Jones, can we have a word?” Alex asks as they step in front of him, blocking his path.

 

“I'm actually on my way to the George Washington Hospital, I should really hurry, I'm almost late already”, Jones answers as his eyes dart between the two.

 

“Late for what, Mr Jones?” Tony prompts, brows furrowed slightly.

 

“I- I need to visit my fiancée, Amanda.  But who are you guys anyways?”

 

“Agents DiNozzo and Quinn, NCIS.  What happened to her?” Alex looks at Jones, and notices that he actually seems to recognize which agency they work for.

 

“A few weeks ago, she- she was grabbed, beaten and raped.  She was taken to the trauma center at George Washington, and she's been in a coma ever since.” Jones's face is somber as he thinks about her, his eyes shying away from the agents in front of him.  “I really have to go now.”  He shuffles around them and hurries out the door, the obligatory bell chiming as the door opened and subsequently closed.  Tony and Alex follow close behind and head to the car, getting in to drive back to the Navy Yard.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

If one were to look for a certain Ziva David, one would find her outside what looked to be an ordinary house, a bland one.  A house that wouldn't be noticed or paid attention to.  Looking around to make sure she isn't seen, she steps out of her car and swiftly moves into the house.  She is hasty as she moves around the sparsely furnished house with familiar steps.

 

She quickly finds the first items on her mental checklist: knives.  She grabs several and shoves them into a bag.  Next item, found close by: guns.  Again, she takes several out of the arsenal residing inside the house and packs them down, along with ammunition for each weapon.  She moves over to the central wall and moves a painting to reveal a safe.  Typing in the code, she opens the door and pulls out an envelope.  Ziva opens the envelope by the table and pours out the contents to make sure it is all there. Several different passports with fake names and corresponding money for each travel option: Euro and British Pounds being amongst them.  

 

The money and passports join the weapons arsenal in her bag, the safe is shut and hidden away by the painting, and Ziva is out of the house before most would even notice she had been inside.  The bag is stashed in the back seat of her car before she drives off, fingers drumming against the steering wheel to the beat of the music only she can hear.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

When Tony and Alex find their way back into the squad room, Gibbs has returned to his desk.  He looks up at the returning agents before gesturing that they could talk.

 

“We went to the gym and interviewed the owner.  He didn't know much, but on our way out we found Jones”, Tony says after shedding his jacket and leaving it by his desk.  Alex follows his example and hangs her coat on the back of her chair.

 

“We found out he has a fiancée”, Alex continues.  “She's in a coma from an assault.”

 

“I'll look into it, Gibbs”, Tony says.  “No such thing as coincidences, I figure it has to have some connection or other to our case.”  He shares a look with Gibbs, who gives him a small nod, before sitting down at his desk and picking up the phone.

 

After a quick conversation with one of his contacts at Metro PD, Tony hangs up the phone and addresses Gibbs once more.  “We'll have the file sent over, it'll be here tomorrow morning.” He gets a nod in response and then both men turn their attention back to their computers.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

Not long after Tony's phone call ends, so does Gibbs’ coffee, and the silver-haired man gets out of his seat, moving through the bullpen.  Alex looks up at him when she notices the movement.  “Headed somewhere, Jethro?” She asks with a slight smile, already having a clue of what he was on his way to.  After all, the sound of the coffee cup hitting the trash van had been fairly loud in the, for one, silent bullpen.

 

“Coffee”, is the answer she gets, confirming her suspicions.  At the mention of coffee, the second team lead perks up and gets out of his seat, following Gibbs towards the elevator.  Tony glances at Gibbs as the elevator doors slide shut, but refrains from saying anything until their beloved beverages are in their hands once more.

 

“It was Ziva”, Tony says as they walk away from the coffee cart, and Gibbs takes a moment to think about which context Tony's talking about before answering.

 

“She's the one who broke in.”  

 

Tony nods.  “The sketch was unmistakable.  But what do we do?  I told the officer to let it go, but I can't.  She broke into my apartment, what she thought was my home.  What did she want?  To find evidence that you and I, us, isn't real, or that she still had a chance with me?”

 

“I don't know what she wanted, Tone.  Both? Neither? Only she knows.”

 

“Should we tell Vance?  Maybe he should know.”

 

Gibbs shrugs.  “I don't know, Tone, it might just make things worse.  David hears Vance is involved, she might get even more desperate than she already is.”

 

Tony sighs, but nods.  “I just don't want to sit on my ass and wait for her to make a mistake, Jeth.  I feel like I should do something about it, you know?  I just don't know what, and it frustrates me.” He takes a sip of his coffee, his eyes sliding shut for a moment as the hot liquid filled his mouth and settled him.

 

“For now, our best option would be to focus on the case, Cyber is looking into her movements in our systems, and Legal is handling McGee.  I doubt they'd like it if we asked them more right now.  If Cyber finds anything, they'll take it to Vance and take it from there.  This is out of our hands now.”

 

Tony nods and drinks from his coffee cup.   “If we get out of here at a reasonable time tonight, can I take you out to dinner?” He asks with a slight grin, looking over at Gibbs, who gives him a small smile in return.  “Of course.  Now let's head back before Quinn issues BOLOs out on both of us.”  The two men chuckle and head back inside, up to the bullpen.


	10. Some Pieces Fall Into Place

Thursday, October 27, 2011

 

Turner and Burley arrive at NCIS with two evidence bags containing two very similar bloody knives.  They pass through the bullpen to drop off coats and bags before taking the elevator down to the evidence locker.  Stepping out, Burley immediately spots a familiar mop of curly hair.

 

“Dorneget! Long time no see, Ned”, he greets with a smile, heading over to him immediately.  Turner follows Burley with the bagged knives in hand.

 

“Oh, Agent Burley, hello”, Dorneget smiles slightly as he turns to face the newcomers.  “There was talk you were back on Agent Gibbs’ team. How is it, really? Working for him, with him?  What's he like as a boss?”

 

“Hardass, but gets the job done”, Burley shrugs a shoulder.

 

“I don’t think he’s as bad as people claim, really.  He’s been nice so far”, Turner steps up beside him. “Where do you want these?”  She asks Dorneget, holding up the evidence bags.

 

“I- I will just take these off your hands, um… Sorry, who are you?”  Dorneget takes the bags out of her hands, but keeps his eyes on her face.

 

“Hannah Turner, I just started working here.  It’s nice to meet you, Agent Dorneget”, she says with a soft smile.  “And, before you ask, my mum was from London, that’s where my accent comes from.”

 

“Oh, I thought I recognized your accent from somewhere, I just couldn’t place it”, Dorneget says, a bit timidly.  “It’s nice to meet you too, Agent Turner.” He turns around to clock in the evidence somewhat abruptly. Turner looks at Burley with a question on her tongue, but Burley shrugs.  “So, how are things going, Dorney?” He asks instead, trying to get the younger man to smile.

 

“Em, they're okay, I guess?” Dorneget answers, unsure.  He turns back around to face the two agents. “Um, Agent Turner, how do you like it on Gibbs’ team?”

 

“I really like working for him, he's a great boss, really.  He even got me coffee this morning”, Turner smiles. “And you can call me Turner or just Hannah, Agent Turner sounds too formal between colleagues.  Are you always here in evidence?”

 

“No, I’m just here as a TDA”, Dorneget answers, shaking his head lightly.

 

“That's nice.” Turner shoots him another smile.

 

“Speaking of Gibbs, he'll be pissed off if we don't get back up to the bullpen soon”, Burley adds, looking at Turner.  “And then you could see how he can be on a bad day.”

 

“Okay, okay, I'm coming”, Turner says quickly and follows Burley to the elevator.  “Bye, Dorneget!” She calls back to the agent with a wave, and gets a wave in return as she steps into the elevator.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

At Dulles Airport, a plane from Tel Aviv lands and stops, allowing the passengers to depart.  The last passenger to leave the plane goes by the name of Abdel Hakim, and according to his visa, he's in the United States to visit a friend for a week.

 

Being the last person off the plane, he uses the crowd to hide in the many.  The luggage he needs is in his carry on, and he leaves the airport unnoticed.  He slips off into a back alley, entering a small, discreet shop that does everything it can to be normal, and has no security cameras for the customers, as a sign of trust.  Once inside, Abdel chooses a cheap model phone and pays for it in cash, before slipping out as quietly as he had entered. He disappears into the streets and blends in with the crowd, keeping his head down and walking at the same pace as the others around him.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

When Turner and Burley arrive at the bullpen, they're met with the delicious smell of Chinese takeout, which could only mean one thing: lunch.  Turner could feel her stomach growl at the smell, and the returning team members are each handed a carton of General Tso’s Chicken by Tony.

 

“Conference room two”, he says, looking at them.  “Campfire. With food”, he adds with a hint of a grin.  Turner looks at Burley for advice as the team lead goes ahead of them to said conference room.  “What does he mean by campfire?” She whispers to him.

 

“I think it’s just his way of saying ‘we’re going to eat while we discuss what we have found out so far”, Burley answers as they follow Tony into the conference room, where Gibbs and Alex already were seated with their own lunch.  The three newly arrived team members took a seat as well, Turner beside Alex, Tony by Gibbs’ side and Burley on Tony's other side.

 

“What do we have?” Gibbs asks as he looks around at their team, all of whom have already begun to eat, except Turner, who is simply stirring her food with the chopsticks.  But she's the one that looked up first and spoke up. “Burley and I found two knives in the park, both have been handed in to evidence. I'm sorry, where can I find a fork? I've never understood how to properly use chopsticks.”

 

Tony slid a fork over to her.  “I brought a spare just in case, here.  I use them myself.” Turner smiles at him and takes the fork gratefully, digging into her lunch.  They continue updating each other about their findings between bites of food, as well as share some ideas.  Tony's gut still says there's something about that Jones and the rape case that could be useful, and he voices that thought.  Around halfway through their lunch, Ducky and Palmer join them as well.

 

“The autopsy is finished, everyone, and as we suspected, our victim died of exsanguination due to the stab wounds”, Ducky says as he takes a seat next to Turner, turning to face her.  “And you must be the Miss Hannah Turner we were told about. I saw you at the scene, but we had no chance to be introduced.”

 

“That's right”, Turner smiles as she nods.  “And you must be Dr Mallard, then.”

 

“Oh, please, Ducky is fine”, Ducky assures her.  He opens his mouth to say more when a phone rings.  It's the Marimba ringtone, and everyone with an iPhone reaches into their pocket to check it.  But everyone is surprised, however, when it's Gibbs that answers the call and steps away from the table.

 

“Yeah Gibbs.”

 

 _“Jethro, no need to be so informal with me.  You called me, remember?”_ Chegwidden says to him.   _“You told me you needed help.  What can I do?”_

 

“Let's meet up, talk face to face.  Tomorrow sound good?”

 

_“Of course. I'll drop by the yard in the early afternoon, I want to talk to all four of you.”_

 

“Good, AJ.  We'll talk then.” Gibbs hangs up and goes back to the table as he slips the phone back into his pocket.  

 

“When did you get a smartphone, Gibbs?  What'd you do to your flip phone?” Burley asks, befuddled. He's always thought Gibbs would continue to use those old flip phones until they ran out of them.

 

“I've used this privately for a while, DiNozzo dragged me into this century.  I don't hate it as much as I thought I would, it could have been worse.”

 

Tony smiles proudly at that as he finishes off his lunch.  “I'm glad you liked it more than you thought you would. And for reference, his last flip phone recently landed in a jar of paint thinner after one particularly unpleasant call I still haven’t dared to ask about.”

 

“Oh.” Burley looks between the two team leads and lets out a small chuckle.  “I guess I shouldn't have expected anything less coming from Gibbs.”

 

Turner raises an eyebrow at that comment.  “Did your phones… Usually end up like that?”  She asks wearily.

 

“Certain people annoy me to no end”, Gibbs grumbles.  “Which is Gibbs-ian for yes, they did”, Tony helpfully supplies with a wink in Turner’s direction.  “We still have a stock of them for emergencies.”

 

The last comment makes both Quinn, Burley, Ducky and Palmer let out a small chuckle.

 

“But don’t listen to him when he says ‘it isn’t that bad’.  I’ve caught him several times playing with it and trying to figure out all the quirks with it.  With an actual smile on his face. He loves that thing”, Tony continues with a chuckle of his own.  Which makes him the target of Gibbs’ glare, but Tony just brushes it off with a grin in his husband’s direction.

 

The takeout containers emptied, the team stands and disposes of their trash before going back to the bullpen, with Ducky and Palmer departing back to autopsy.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

At the same time, close to Capitol Hill, Abby meets up with McGee outside the Sweetgreen restaurant.  They smile at each other before heading inside, going up to the counter to order. McGee gets the Curry Chickpea Bowl while Abby orders a Harvest Bowl.  They wait for their food before finding a table to sit at. Their lunches are enjoyed in mostly silence, before Abby blurts out the question she has been wanting to ask ever since they’d arrived at Sweetgreen.

 

“Why didn’t you come from NCIS like I did?” She asks, looking across the table at McGee.

 

“I’m suspended because of that book I wrote, Gibbs made me leave.  The Legal team is ‘investigating’ me. But there’s nothing to investigate”, McGee answers with a roll of his eyes before taking another bite of his food.

 

Abby contemplates telling McGee about the meeting she’d had with SecNav, that she has been advised to sue him, but decides against it and simply nods.  “It won’t properly be NCIS without you, Timmy. It’s not the same without you or Ziva there”, she says instead, because it’s the truth. It’s not supposed to be her against Gibbs, it’s supposed to be her and Gibbs on the same side.

 

“Let’s finish eating and get out of here, we’ve got work to do.  I’ve got what we need in my bag.” They finish eating quickly and pay for their lunch before leaving Sweetgreen.  Side by side, they walk the few blocks necessary to reach the nearby Starbucks. They find a table in the corner of the café and sit down.  McGee pulls the laptop out of his bag and boots it up as Abby scoots her chair closer until they’re side by side, hunched over the laptop.

 

McGee’s fingers move across the keyboard swiftly, setting up the program they need to get access to Tony’s file.  They decided to try his first, as it’s unlikely to have severely high protection around it. After all, what was there to protect?  They get access to Tony’s file surprisingly easily, so, thinking they were on a roll, the two schemers look at each other before trying Gibbs’ file.  But as soon as they prod even in the vicinity of that file, the screen goes black.

 

“Is it out of battery?  I told you to cha-” Abby doesn’t finish her sentence as warnings begin to flash all over the screen.  “SECURITY BREACH!” flashes before them, and McGee quickly tries to disconnect, but ends up just slamming the lid shut as nothing he does works, just wanting to get rid of the flashing imagery displayed on the screen in front of them.

 

“Shit”, McGee whispers as he shoves the laptop into his bag.  “What happened?” He asks Abby as they quickly make their way out of the café and onto the streets, taking a right onto 3rd street.  Reaching the next intersection quickly, they take another right and end up on C street.

 

“We’re in trouble.  We have to get rid of the laptop, now.”  She looks at McGee. “W-With the warnings we got from touching Gibbs’ file, do… Do you think they would know we got into Tony’s file as well?”

 

“Probably.  We should find somewhere to keep the laptop until we know what to do with it”, McGee says, walking briskly away from the café.  “Some sort of storage.”

 

“We could get a locker at the nearby metro station, Capitol South”, Abby suggests, pointing in the direction of the underground station, ahead with a slight leaning to the left.  “It’s close, but not so close it’s obvious.”

 

McGee nods, and together they walk to the station.  They head underground into the station, Abby practically clinging to McGee so they won’t get separated in the crowds.  Finding an empty locker, McGee stuffs the laptop into it and pockets the key, scribbling down the number on a used gum wrapper he found in his pocket.  Abby drags him back out of the station, barely allowing him to put the paper back in his pocket.

 

Finally back outside and away from the masses, Abby and McGee part ways with a promise to meet up again as soon as they can to discuss what their next move will be.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

At the Navy Yard, the SFAs along with Turner have found their desks when Gibbs pulls Tony away from the group.  “Go tell Vance about Ziva, he should know she's broken into your apartment.” His voice is quiet and it's clear he doesn't want this to get attention.

 

Tony nods in response and presses a swift kiss to his cheek before departing for the stairs up to Vance's office.  He nods to Pamela as he passes her and knocks on the door before poking his head inside. “Director, may I?” He asks before stepping inside, not waiting for an answer.

 

Vance looks up at him.  “DiNozzo, what can I do for you?”

 

“Ziva David broke into my apartment last night.” Tony stands in front of Vance's desk and watches the Director.

 

“Was she apprehended at the scene?” Vance asks.

 

“No. But an eyewitness, my neighbor, described her well enough for a sketch, which I recognized.  She must have slipped out before the police arrived.”

 

Pamela rang on the intern.  “Director Vance, Kevin from the IT department says he needs to speak with you, he claims it's urgent.”

 

“Oh, well, I'll just take my leave”, Tony says.  “Thank you for your time, director. I don't expect any action, I just want you to be aware of what she had done.” He turns to leave and passes Kevin, who calls after him.  “Agent DiNozzo, I'm glad I caught you, you should hear this too.”

 

Tony stops and turns around, following Kevin back into the Director's office.  His eyebrows are raised, as are Vance's, as they once again are face to face no less than thirty seconds after Tony had left his office.

 

“Sir, Director, I had to come to you.  It appears that someone hacked into Agent DiNozzo’s file, and attempted to gain access to Agent Gibbs’ file as well.  Because of their clearance, we got an internal warning when Agent DiNozzo’s file was accessed, and the system threw them out when they reached Agent Gibbs’ files.”

 

“Do you know who did it?” Tony asks, having a really bad feeling about the whole situation.

 

“No, we tracked the signal to a Starbucks location, but what they used, most likely a laptop, is turned off, we can't find it again until it turns back on.  But we have the code used to hack our systems”, Kevin continues.

  
Tony nods slowly.  “I'll let Agent Gibbs know, Director, Kevin, thank you.” He says and leaves, his feet going on autopilot down to the bullpen as his mind is miles away, very puzzled.   _Could Ziva have pulled off a stunt like that?  No, she's not good enough with a computer. She could have hired someone._  He needs to talk to Gibbs as soon as he can.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There may be a longer delay in between chapters due to author's vacations and not reliable to no internet connection.


	11. The Puzzle Gets Clearer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We find out who the mysterious Israeli is, and maybe we get some leads on the case?

Thursday, October 27, 2011

 

Not long after he'd sent Tony up to Vance and gotten settled behind his computer, Gibbs’ phone rings once more.   _ Apparently I'm popular today _ , he thinks to himself as he picks his phone out of his pocket and answers the call.

 

“Yeah, Gibbs”, he says gruffly, after recognizing the number as belonging to Fornell.  He gets out of his chair and steps into the corner behind the stairs for a semblance of privacy.

 

_ “My, Jethro, you're a happy camper today”,  _ Fornell answers.   _ “And you'll be even happier with the news I bring.”  _

 

Gibbs sighs.  “Just spit it out, Tobias, I ain't got all day.”

 

_ “You know your friend Hadar?  He's in the country under a false name.  Abdel Hakim. ICE informed us, and now I'm informing you.  Do you know anything about why he's here?” _

 

“Ziva David.  She was fired.  If you find her, chances are high you'll find Hadar as well.  Was there anything else?”

 

_ “I still haven't heard from DiNutzo about the offer to join the FBI.” _  Fornell's voice is teasing now, and Gibbs can tell he's smiling.

 

“Well, Vance got to his senses and didn't fire him.  So he won't take you up on your offer.”

 

_ “What a shame, he would raise the standards for FBI agents.  Do tell your boy that the offer will stand if he ever changes his mind.” _

 

“I’ll let him know, Tobias.  Now can I get back to work? Because unlike some people, I actually do my job”, Gibbs says gruffly, if he wasn’t as collected as he is, he’d have been tapping his foot against the floor in impatience.

 

_ “Fine, fine, I won’t keep you any longer.” _  Fornell chuckles and hangs up.  Gibbs glares at his phone for a moment before pocketing it and heading back to his desk, checking his watch to see how long Tony had spent in Vance’s office.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

When Gibbs returns to his desk after hanging up with Fornell, his team are all busy tapping away at their respective computers.  Alex is digging into Ramsey’s, the gym owner’s, bank records and phone logs, while Stan is doing the same for Jones.

 

“Jethro, there’s nothing off about the gym owner.  Other than that he spends a few more bucks than a normal person would at these über-healthy and super expensive salad bars, and calls his ex-wife every Saturday night, there’s nothing we can pin on him”, Alex tells him when Gibbs has found his seat.

 

“There’s nothing obviously wrong with Jones either, Gibbs, but I’ll keep digging to see if there’s anything that can help us”, Stan says as he looks over at Gibbs.

 

“Keep working on that”, Gibbs says in response and moves to do some work of his own, but is soon enough interrupted by yet another phone call.  He checks the caller ID and sees that it’s Abby. He stands before answering.

 

“Yeah Gibbs.”

 

_ “I have something.  Come down” _ , Abby says into the phone.

 

“On my way.”  Gibbs hangs up.  “Turner! With me.”

 

Turner scrambles to her feet and follows Gibbs to the elevator that takes them down to the lab.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

Ellie sits outside Dr Cranston’s office, tapping her foot against the floor as she fiddled with her phone, waiting to be called in.  She looks up when the door opens and reveals Dr Rachel Cranston herself.

 

“Eleanor Bishop?”  She asks, prompting Ellie to get to her feet.  “Yes, that’s me”, She answers as she follows the doctor into the office.  Cranston settles behind her desk and gestures to the seat on the other side, where Ellie immediately sits down and leans back into the soft cushions.

 

“Thank you for being able to do this evaluation before I start at FLETC, Dr Cranston.”

 

“Another client had to reschedule, leaving an opening.  It's nice to meet you, Eleanor. When I heard you are about to join Agents Gibbs and DiNozzo on their team, I knew I had to talk to you.” 

 

Ellie tips her head to the side slightly, curious about why Dr Cranston would have to talk to her.  But she senses it’s something personal and doesn't really want to pry. As it is, she doesn't have to, as her unvoiced question is answered.

 

“My younger sister, Caitlin Todd, used to be on their team.”

 

“Oh, so you know them”, Ellie nods and settles back into her seat, twisting slightly to get closer to the back of the chair.

 

“Yes, and I have to admit I am fond of them.”

 

Ellie nods once more, leaning back.  “Should we get started?”

 

“Of course.”  Dr Cranston begins asking her questions, Ellie answers and the doctor takes notes before asking another question.  Thus, this goes on for the remaining 40 minutes of the evaluation, before Ellie is dismissed and departs from the office.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

Abby heads for her office, locks the door behind her, and calls McGee, setting the phone on speaker and pacing the room.  After what had happened at Starbucks, she needed to talk to him. They hadn’t gotten a chance to talk about what they’d seen in Tony’s file before trying their hands at Gibbs’ and subsequently getting thrown out of the system.

 

_ “Tim McGee.” _

 

“Timmy, it’s me.  We need to talk. We both know exactly what we saw in Tony’s file.  The classified section.”

 

_ “Tony’s marriage to Gibbs”,  _ Tim answers.   _ “Is there a way to fake a marriage license?  To get that info in his file, he would have had to have shown one.  They could have forged one, couldn’t they?” _

 

“They must have shown a fake one”, Abby agrees.  “But what do we do now, Timmy, they  _ know _ we got in to those files, what do we do?”  She paces the length of the office as she speaks, her boots loud against the floor.

 

_ “For now, we don’t do anything, they can’t know it’s us.  This will die down, and then we can try again. Since I can’t go to work, I’ll have a lot more time to rework my program, so we don’t get thrown out and can see Gibbs’ file too.” _

 

“Timmy, we can’t wait!”  Abby’s hands are moving, torn between signing what she’s saying and nervously tugging at her clothes and ponytails.  “We have to do something now, before the prank goes even further. It’s already gone too far, Gibbs is always mad at me now, he wasn’t before.”  Her voice is half a step away from a whine as she continues to pace the office, not noticing that Gibbs and Turner are on their way into the lab.  Not until the music is shut off, at least. Then she looks up, sees them, and runs to her phone. “I have to go, Timmy, Gibbs is here and he’s got this weird lady with him, I don’t like the look of her”, she says before hanging up and hurrying out to them.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

Even before the elevator doors open to the floor Abby’’s lab is on, Turner feels a thumping, a vibration, in her ribcage.  As soon as they crack open, she recognizes it: music. Loud, bass-heavy music coming from no other place than the lab she is headed towards, a step behind Gibbs.

 

Turner lets out a breath when the music disappears, and looks gratefully at Gibbs.  He shakes his head and glances at the glass door at the other end of the lab, which a scientist who doesn't look much like one apart from the lab coat is quickly approaching.  She watches her grab her phone off the desk and slide it into her coat pocket before stepping to the side of the door to press a few buttons before it opens and she approaches them.

 

“Gibbs!”  Abby’s smile is wide as she looks at him, but her face turns sour and confused when she moves her gaze to Turner.  “Who is she?” She asks Gibbs, turning to look back at him with her head tilted slightly to the left in a curious manner.  Turner straightens her back at not being addressed directly, and opens her mouth to answer before she realizes Gibbs’ hands are moving.  She recognizes it as ASL, but never learned to understand it.

 

_ “Abby, behave.  Show her respect.” _

 

Abby pouted at him and was about to whine Gibbs’ name when Gibbs cut her off.

 

“Turner, this is Abby Sciuto, our Forensic Scientist.  Miss Sciuto, this is Junior Agent Hannah Turner. What do you have, Sciuto?”

 

Abby glared at Hannah before turning to her computers so she wouldn’t have to look at either of them.  “The second DNA isn’t military or in any database, so it’s still unknown. As far as the fabric fibers go, they’re high end.  It’s sportswear with Freeze technology, cooling shirts.”

 

“And the knives?”  Gibbs prompts when Abby stops.

 

“I’m still processing them, I don’t have anything on them yet.  You’ll know as soon as I do.”

 

Gibbs nods and turns to leave, nodding at Turner to follow him.  She watches Abby for another moment before following her boss out of the lab.  Turner hears stomping and the shutting of the lab door before the same loud music as before started playing once more.  The elevator doors block the music, and the two agents head back up to the squad room.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

Elsewhere in DC, Amit Hadar books into a no-name motel under the name he arrived with, Abdel Hakim.  He looks around as if admiring the place while the receptionist readies his key card. The wallpapers are worn down and faded, falling off in more than one place.  The floors creak as the few other tenants walk across it, and each creak makes Hadar flinch a bit as they get closer, and then relax when they move past.

 

He takes the room key from the bored receptionist and heads for the room. Locking himself in, he drops his bag on the floor beside the lonely bed and pulls his newly bought phone out of his pocket.  Hadar calls Ziva’s number, but when it goes to voicemail, he sighs and calls their common informant, who actually picks up after the third ring.

 

“Shalom.”  Hadar is quiet, motel walls are too thin for casual conversation at a normal level.  Not that this is a normal conversation, by any means.

 

_ “What do you need?” _

 

“I need to find Ziva.  Director’s orders.”

 

_ “She was last seen at the safehouse earlier today.  We have had no contact after that point, but it is unlikely she has gone far.”   _ The informant’s voice is just as quiet and whispering as Hadar’s.

 

“She is to be extracted as soon as possible.”

 

_ “Understood.  I will contact you if I have news.” _  The line goes dead, Hadar pockets the phone and leaves the motel room, heading for the safe house he had been told Ziva had visited.

  
  


*~*~*~*~*

 

“SitRep!”  Gibbs barks at his team, looking around as he finds his seat.  Quinn, sitting closest to him, goes first.

 

“Ramsey is clean, there is nothing to connect him to PO Boswell, Gibbs.  I can’t find anything whatsoever.” She looks up at him.

 

“I cannot find anything unusual in Jones’ background either, boss”, Burley adds, shaking his head slightly.

 

Gibbs bites back a sigh and looks over at Turner, their new resident geek, who is just finding her own seat.  “Turner! Dig deeper into their lives, this can’t be a dead end.”

 

Turner looks at him and nods as she pulls out her chair.  “Yes, Gibbs. I’ll do my best to track down anything I can.”  Turning her attention back to her computer, she gets to work.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

Not long after the SitRep, Tony arrives from his meeting with the director.  “Gibbs, I need to talk to you. Now.” Gibbs looks up from his computer and pushes his chair away from the desk when he sees the look on Tony’s face.  He leads Tony into the elevator and presses a button, allowing the doors to close before shutting the elevator off, leaving them in the blue emergency lights.  Only then does Gibbs turn to fully face his partner, concern in his eyes.

“What is it, Tony?”

“Just as I left Vance’s office, IT Kevin stopped me and told me to come back in.  He told us that someone had hacked into my file and tried to access yours.” Tony leans on the wall and lets out a sigh.

Gibbs furrows his brows.  “Do they know who it was?”

“No, they were clever, used a laptop at a Starbucks.  But they have the code used, which Cyber will investigate to see if he hacker left a signature.  I think it’s connected to Ziva, she could have hired someone to find out if our marriage was real or not.”

“I can’t fathom why so many doesn’t believe us, you, me, when we say we’re married.  That they have to confirm it for themselves”, Gibbs sighs. “But we can’t rule out that it isn’t Ziva.  It could be someone else.”

Tony nods softly before leaning his head back on the cool wall.  “This is such a mess, Jeth.”

“I know, Tone, but we just have to work through it.  We will do what we can, and we have many people on our side, we’re not alone in this.”

Tony nods again and reaches for the switch to turn the elevator back on to bring them back to the bullpen.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

As Tony and Gibbs approach the bullpen, Tony gains the team’s attention by grabbing his chair and pulling it towards the middle of their area.  “Campfire”, he exclaims and takes a seat, crossing his legs and leaning back as he watches their team bring their chairs over to him until they are seated in a circle.   
  
“I still want to look into Jones’ fiancée”, Tony tells them.  “I’m not absolutely sure there’s something there, but we can’t rule it out yet.”  The team all nod in response.   
  
Gibbs continues, “and since we’re running out of leads and don’t have anything to work on before the morning comes and we get Amanda’s case file, you can all go home and get some rest.  The knives Burley and Turner found should also be processed by tomorrow.”   
  
The two team leads get to their feet, with the SFAs and the junior agent soon following suit.  Chairs were brought back to their desks, computers were shut off and things were gathered before Burley, Quinn and Turner head home to eat and rest.  Tony and Gibbs stay behind to make sure everything is in order before they head out. None of them could shake the feeling that this case could soon take an even darker turn than it already had.   
  
*~*~*~*~*

 

Before he leaves for the day, Gibbs gets out his phone and dials Fornell’s number.  He holds the phone between his ear and his shoulder as he waits for the man to pick up.  As he talks, he continues to gather his things and    
  
_ “Fornell.” _   
  
“Now who’s the chipper one?”  Gibbs says with a hint of humor in his voice, which you could only hear if you knew him well.   
  
_ “Shut it, Jethro, it’s been a long day” _ , Fornell grumbles on the other end of the line.   _ “What is it?” _ __  
  
“We’ve been hacked, Tony’s file and mine.  They accessed Tony’s but was thrown out when they tried looking at mine.  We suspect David had something to do with it.”   
  
_ “And you want me to get someone to follow it up?” _ __  
  
“It’s like you know me too well, Tobias.”   
  
_ “Fine, I’ll get Penelope Garcia on it in the morning”,  _ Fornell tells him.   _ “If anyone can figure out who hacked you, it’s her.” _ __  
  
“Good.  Thank you, Tobias.”   
__  
_ “Be careful, Jethro.  I’ve got a feeling she’s not done invading your privacy just yet.” _ __  
  
Gibbs sighs.  “I know, Tobias.”   
  
_ “I’ll let you know when Garcia finds anything.” _ __  
  
“Good.”  Gibbs takes the phone back in his hand and ends the call before sliding the phone into his pocket.    
  


*~*~*~*~*

 

As Hadar enters the house, he can immediately tell where Ziva had been.  Opening the same drawers she had, he sees how much she has taken, barely leaving anything for the other Mossad agents who might need them.  He then goes over to the safe and opens it with skilled fingers. Envelopes are found emptied of cash, and a growl escapes Hadar’s mouth. He slams the safe shut and as he turns to leave, his phone rings.  Hadar sighs as he grabs the phone and answers the call.

“Yes?” He says impatiently.

_ “Ziva David was spotted in Alexandria, Virginia” _ , the informant on the other end of the line answers.

Hadar straightens up at that and hurries to leave the house.  “Where?”

_ “She was seen heading down East Laurel Street.” _

Hadar slips into the car and starts it.  East Laurel Street sounds very familiar to him, but he has to think for a few moments before he realizes that Agent Gibbs lives at 500 Block East Laurel Street.  He quickly hangs up and tosses the phone into the shotgun seat as he drives off towards Gibbs’ address.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

Tony waits for Gibbs by the elevator, and they take it together down to the front door.  They both have small smiles on their faces at the thought of their upcoming dinner, with Tony very curious as to where his husband is taking him.  As they walk towards the main entrance, Tony waves at the security guard.

 

“Still hard at work?”  He asks with a slight grin, making the guard chuckle.

 

“Always.  Hey, what’s up with McGee?  I saw him earlier when he left, he looked really pissed off.  Who pissed in his cereal?”

 

“He’s suspended”, Tony answers.  “Under investigation. He isn’t allowed back here until he is asked for by the Director or SecNav.”

 

“Alright, I’ll send him away if he tries to come back before that.” The guard nods.

 

“How’s Karen?”  Tony smiles at him.

 

“As always, you know how she is”, he answers with a wink.  “Have a nice evening, Agents.”

 

“You too, man”, Tony nods with a light chuckle and follows Jethro to their car, waving goodbye to the guard in the process.  He gets into the passenger seat and buckles up.

 

“So, where are you taking us tonight, love?”  He asks Jethro softly, a slight hum in his voice.

 

“That’s for me to know and you to find out”, Jethro answers cryptically with a small smirk on his lips as he pulls the car out of the parking lot.

 

“Oh, really now?  Because if I see the road correctly, I’m pretty sure I know exactly where we’re headed.”  Tony chuckles as he leans back in his seat, watching the road.

 

Soon enough, Tony knew he was right.  Jethro parks the car outside a sweet little Italian restaurant in Georgetown, Ristorante La Delizia.  As one, the two men exit the car and head to the entrance of the place. As soon as they enter, they’re greeted by a soft, red atmosphere that envelopes them and drags them deeper into the half-filled restaurant.  Almost immediately, a short, brightly smiling woman greets them.

 

“Antonio, Jethro, how lovely to see you!”  She exclaims with a heavy Italian accent and hurries around the desk to greet Tony with a hug.  Tony chuckles and hugs her back.

 

“Lucia, è bello rivederti”, he says as he pulls back.  Lucia smiles brightly and answers in Italian.

 

_ “Antonio, you look happier than last time I saw you” _ , she tells him.

 

_ “I am.  How is the family?” _  Tony smiles at her and allows her to guide them through the restaurant, past tables with white cloths that compensated for the sweet red that adorned the walls and the burgundy of the chairs.

 

_ “Wonderful, like always.” _

 

They continue to chat in Italian as Lucia leads them to a quaint little table in the corner.  She guides Tony to the chair by the fireplace and then Jethro to the seat opposite, closer to the window.

 

“I made my famous lasagna today, gentlemen, I will return soon with it.  But first you must have some bread and antipasti”, Lucia insists, a gentle, but worn, hand resting lightly on Tony’s shoulder.  “What would you like to drink tonight?”

 

“A nice red wine sounds great to your lasagna.  Don’t you think so, Jethro?” Tony looks over at his husband, who nods and gives him a smile in return.  “Sounds great, Tony.”

 

Lucia nods, and she disappears for a brief moment before returning with the promised antipasti and bread.  Soon after, a waiter brings over a bottle of red wine, opening it and pouring it into their glasses.

 

After the waiter has moved on to serve other tables, Tony reaches out for Jethro’s hand across the table, which his partner notices and reaches back, taking Tony’s hand in his own.  Jethro’s thumb absently strokes across the back of Tony’s hand as a gentle smile plays on his lips.

 

Dinner is enjoyed with inconsequential small talk and soft looks shared between the two men.  Tony chuckles when Jethro tells him that, while Lucia’s lasagna is delicious, he prefers Tony’s.  “Don’t let Lucia hear you say that, darlin’, or you’ll be getting the headslaps this time around”, he teases, making Jethro shake his head with a soft laugh of his own.

 

Too soon for either’s liking, dinner is over and paid for, and the two men are getting into their car.  The drive home is silent, but comfortable, without the need for conversation. At home, they enter the house and lock the door behind them, before Tony goes upstairs to shower as Jethro heads for the back door to double check that that door is also securely locked.  After double checking that it’s locked, the older man heads upstairs to the bedroom. He places his phone in the charger just as Tony emerges from the bathroom in his boxers, smiling at his husband. Passing him on his way to the bathroom, Jethro places a peck on Tony’s cheek before slipping out of the bedroom.

 

Tony heads over to the window and looks out, seeing the taillights of a car disappearing into the night.  He smiles as he shuts the curtains and goes over to the bed, lying down on his side with a relaxed sigh. As always, Jethro is efficient in the bathroom and joins the younger man in bed soon after Tony has gotten comfortable.  They share a quick goodnight kiss before closing their eyes and falling asleep side by side.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

A few houses down the road, Hadar finds Ziva sitting in her car.  She’s so focused on Gibbs’ house that she doesn’t even notice Hadar until he’s sitting in the backseat and speaks.

 

“Miss David, shalom.”  Hadar can’t help but enjoy how Ziva jumps and quickly tries to gather herself before looking in the rearview mirror at him.

 

“Hadar, I saw your call.  What are you doing here?”

 

“Your father has given me clear orders to extract you from the United States.”  Hadar’s voice is steady and calm as he speaks.

 

“What?”  Ziva turns around to glare at him.  “I already have plans, and I plan to follow them before I go with you.”

 

“No, you will come with me now”, Hadar insists, almost getting annoyed at her behaviour.  The nerve of her, she had to have been influenced by those Americans. He wants to get out of here as soon as he can, and sees his chance when Ziva, thinking the conversation is over, turns back to continue watching Gibbs’ house.  Hadar leans forward and wraps his arm around her neck, pulling her back against the seat. She struggles, but the way he has her soon renders her unconscious.

 

Slipping out of the back seat, he opens the driver’s door and lifts her out of the car without any hassle.  Hadar carries her to his own car and lays her in the back seat. He digs through his bag for zip ties and uses them to tie her hands and feet together.  After that, he gets in the car, starts it and drives off. As he drives away from the Gibbs home, he checks the windows and sees a figure standing in one of them, watching.  Nodding softly to himself, he drives into the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So hey, we're back! This chapter is longer to make up for the long hiatus I (Fangirl_Deluxe14) put you through due to family vacations and bad internet. Hopefully, I will be able to write more. I will force myself to sit down and quit procrastinating. Have a great day!


	12. Yet Another Day In This Mess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We get a new day, which means we get developments. Right?

Friday, October 28, 2011

 

Tony opens his eyes in the morning, to find that he is for once not alone in bed.  Jethro has his arm wrapped around Tony’s waist and his face burrowed into the back of his neck, and the deep breathing Tony hears is the proof that his bed partner is still sleeping.

 

He slowly turns around until he’s facing Jethro, and by the time he can look at his face, he’s met with blue eyes.

 

“Are you not getting out of bed on purpose?”  Jethro asks him, making Tony grin sheepishly.

 

“Maybe.”

 

Jethro shakes his head as he sits up.  “Come on, we have to get up.” As he gets out of bed, he feels a hand grab his ass.  “Tony, babe, what’s the time?”

 

Tony, who was grinning at Jethro, turns his head to the alarm clock on the nightstand and immediately lets Jethro go as he scurries out of bed.  “Oh shit!” He hisses as he practically runs for the bathroom, seeing that they will be late if they don’t hurry. Jethro chuckles at Tony’s antics and follows him, stepping up beside him as he reaches for his shaver.

 

Jethro watches silently, his own movements calm, as Tony rushes to brush his teeth, comb his hair, and shave.  The younger man exits the bathroom to get dressed before heading downstairs, leaving Jethro to finish up on his own.  Not that he really minds that, after all, Tony can get a bit too energetic for his tastes at times.

 

The scent of coffee wafts through the upper floor as Jethro finishes getting dressed, and he walks downstairs with a smile.  Heading for the kitchen, he drops a kiss on Tony’s cheek as he passes the man on his way to the coffee maker, where a cup has already been poured for him.  Jethro takes the cup and turns to lean on the counter and face Tony, who is nursing his own cup.

 

“Breakfast to go?”  Tony asks, cocking an eyebrow at his husband.  He nods at the clock hanging on the wall, which he hadn’t even looked at.

 

“Oh, we have time”, Jethro heads for the fridge.  “I messed with your alarm clock so you’d get out of bed faster.  Always double check, DiNozzo.” He shoots Tony a grin and a wink before he opens the fridge.

 

“You… You did what?  Really?” Tony’s jaw drops open for a moment before he begins laughing.  He shakes his head as he watches Jethro mill about in the kitchen. “Well, it worked, I’ll give you that.”  He mumbles under his breath, “always double check, dammit. Like I’m going to do that when we’re about to be late for work.”  He grabs his phone and sees that they indeed do have time for breakfast. Tony sets his coffee cup down on the table and goes about helping his partner by getting out plates for them.

 

Soon both men are seated at the table with their food and coffee in front of them.  The meal is enjoyed in mostly silence, with Tony still grumbling about Jethro messing with his clock.  Tony washes the dishes while Jethro heads back to the bedroom to make sure his husband didn't forget anything and comes back down with Tony's watch in his hand.  He lays the watch on the table so Tony won't miss it.

 

Tony sees the watch after he dried his hands, and picks it up, putting it on as he walked towards the front door.  “Thanks, Jeth. I've almost forgiven you for stressing me”, he teases as he leans on the wall, watching Jethro grab the car keys.

 

“I got you up, didn't I?  And you had more time than usual because you got ready faster.” Jethro grins and opens the front door.  “Now come on, I heard your boss will yap at you if you're late.” 

 

The two men get into the car and they drive off towards NCIS.  Neither man paid notice to the car they drove past, one that had been parked down the road all throughout their morning.  The two men inside the parked car watch the house and wait patiently, and ten minutes later they started the car and drove slowly down the street.  They stop behind a red Mini previously in the possession of one Ziva David.

 

The man in the shotgun seat, a short, slim man, slithers out of the black van and heads for the Mini.  He gets behind the wheel and starts it up. As the front lights of the Mini light up, the black van drives off.  The Mini follows, and the two vastly different vehicles drive off.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

Leon Vance walks up the stairs to his office, feeling hopeful about the day. He actually smiles at Pamela, too.

 

“Good morning, Pamela.”

 

“Good morning, Director.  You have an appointment with Rear Admiral Rabb after lunch  and both Legal and Cyber need to speak with you.” 

 

Vance's smile disappears when he hears that both the Cyber and Legal departments want to see him.  “Ah. Thank you, Pamela. Send up Cyber first.” He decides and goes into his office, sitting down behind his desk and awaiting the arrival of Kevin Hussein from the IT department.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

Tony steps out of the car and grabs his bag before heading towards the front entrance beside Gibbs.  They move as one until they reach security, where they almost literally bump into Turner, carrying her rucksack as well as the large overnight bag, now filled with clothes and other things she knew belonged in an overnight bag.  Still, she was befuddled as to exactly why she needs such a bag.

 

Turner and Gibbs head for the squad room while Tony chats with the guards.

 

“We still on for Sunday?” He asks them.

 

“Of course, the game is always on.  I even managed to convince Balboa to join us.” One of the guards grins at Tony.

 

“Really?  He never has the time.”  Tony raises an eyebrow at that.

 

“Yeah, but he was free this Sunday, so he'll be there, along with all the usuals.  Well, except for Harry, his wife is taking him away for the weekend, he says.”

 

Tony chuckles softly.  “Awesome. Well, if I don't see you tomorrow, we'll meet at the court.”

 

“Of course, Tony.” The guards wave him off and go back to work.

 

Leaving Tony behind on the first floor, Gibbs and Turner head up to the bullpen.  Turner looks at Gibbs with her rucksack on one shoulder and overnight bag on the other as the elevator rises.

 

“So, Gibbs?  Why do I have the overnight bag?” 

 

“For emergencies.  Every agent keeps a bag at their desk.  Packed and ready in case we have a case that brings us far away from home.”  Gibbs steps out of the elevator and heads towards their area. Turner follows him, almost jogging to keep up.

 

“Oh, so if we're going somewhere it would make sense to stay at a hotel instead of heading home for the night.” She nods and sets her go bag down, stuffing it under her desk where she can reach it, but it's still out of the way.

 

“Exactly.” Gibbs nods to the SFAs as he finds his seat and powers up his computer.  “Turner, when you’re done with Ramsey and Jones, see if you find anything about our victim.”

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

When Tony joins the team in the bullpen, he finds the files on Amanda’s case waiting for him on his desk and the rest of the team knee-deep in their own leads.  He sits down at his desk, switches on his computer and leans back as he waits for it to power up. As he does, he looks out over the team,  _ their team _ , he reminds himself.

 

Turner, at the other end of their area, has done everything she can with Jones and Ramsey and has moved on to try to find anything on PO Boswell, as per Gibbs’ orders.  She glances up at Tony when she hears his computer boot up, gives him a small smile when their eyes meet, before she quickly turns her attention back to her own computer and her own work.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

Kevin Hussein takes the elevator up to the floor Vance’s office is on after Pamela called and told him Vance wanted to see him first.  He stops in front of Pamela’s desk and smiles at her.

 

“I’m here to see the Director.”

 

“Go right in, he’s waiting for you”, Pamela answers and gestures to the door leading into Vance’s office.  Kevin nods and knocks on the door before opening it and stepping inside.

 

Vance looks up and nods at Kevin to begin.  The IT Systems Admin closes the door and approaches Vance as he talks.

 

“Director, we found evidence on Ziva David’s computer that she had been compiling information not necessary for their cases on multiple occasions.  This information has been sent to multiple accounts in Israel over the years she worked here.”

 

Vance frowns slightly and furrows his brows.  “Thank you, Mr Hussein. Let me know if you find anything else regarding illegal correspondence between Miss David and Israel.”

 

“Yes, of course, Director.  I have sent a comprised sheet of information to your computer, so you can overlook what we have found so far.”  Kevin turns to leave the room, having said what he had come to say.

 

Vance watches him leave and waits until the door has shut before he calls up the Justice Department.  He asks to be put over to the US Attorney General, and informs Eric Holder of the situation. 

 

“Ziva David, daughter of Mossad Director Eli David, while at her position with NCIS, had illegally retained classified information relating to the U.S. and its procedures.  Some of this information, in the wrong hands, could cause grave damage to our national security.”

 

_ “We will need to access every file she has found access to” _ , Holder responds.

 

“Of course, our Cyber department will send over everything they have found on Miss David’s computer.”

 

_ “The FBI will put out a BOLO for her, to bring her in.” _

 

“Thank you, Mr Holder.”  The conversation is ended shortly after, and Vance contacts Pamela to let her know he wanted to inform Gibbs of what had just occurred.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

After getting everything settled at his desk, Tony takes the rape case file from Metro PD and splits it with Quinn.

 

“Read through it and let me know what you think”, Tony tells her before going back to his own desk, reading through his own half of the file.  

 

Richardson, Amanda Julie, the file case read, was found brutally beaten and raped by an unknown individual, resulting in her being in a coma at the George Washington Hospital.  No witnesses have come forth about the incident, which meant the police were at a standstill. The list regarding her injuries was extensive and gruesome, alongside the pictures taken for evidence.  Her fiancé, Keith Taylor Jones, had been questioned and found clear of any suspicions.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

Gibbs watches over his team as his phone rings.

 

“Yeah, Gibbs?”

 

_ “The director wants to see you in his office”, _ Pamela informs him.

 

“On my way.”  Gibbs hangs up and pushes away from his desk before standing and leaving the bullpen.  He watches over the team as he heads up the stairs, before turning to actually look where he’s going.  Nodding to Pamela in passing, he opens the door, steps in, and shuts it behind himself before looking at Vance.

 

“Gibbs, over here.”  Vance gestures to the space before his desk.  “I just spoke to our Cyber unit, David accessed files she had no right to get her hands on and sent them to Israel.”

 

Gibbs’ eyes narrow as he walks closer.  “When did she do this?”

 

“Ever since she got her position on your team.  The DOJ has been contacted and they want her arrested, a BOLO has been issued by the FBI to get ahold of her.”

 

“So she used us and Shepard for her father’s sake”, Gibbs concludes with a bit-back sigh.  “Leon, she should never have been on an investigative team in the first place.”

 

“I know, Gibbs, I know.  All we can do now is ensure something like this never happens again.  Now, you’ve got a case to work and I’ve got more meetings to get to.”

 

Gibbs nods.  “Good. See you, Leon.”  He turns and leaves the office, leaving Vance alone once more.  Vance calls Pamela and tells her he’s ready for the last meeting.


	13. The Puzzle Pieces Are Finally Coming Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More characters to introduce? Hell yes. Story progress? You betcha. Pissed off people? That's a given at this point.

Friday, October 28, 2011

 

Turner gets to her feet when Gibbs returns.  She is already holding the remote for the plasma screen, and has a smile on her face.

 

“Gibbs, while you were out, I found something.”  

 

“Well, why aren’t you already showing DiNozzo?”  Gibbs asks as he steps up beside the junior agent.

 

“Because I told her to wait for you before she began.”  Tony looks up at him from his seat. “She told us she had something regarding Boswell, and we all should be here to see that.”  He stands and nods for Quinn and Burley to do the same, so they all are huddled around the plasma. Turner looks closely at the remote to make sure she presses the right button, and surveillance footage begins playing.

 

“I found footage of Boswell leaving a bar with this woman the first night they were on leave from the USS Majestic.  I haven’t been able to identify her yet, but we should talk to her to see if she knows anything.”

 

“Turner, can you zoom in on her?”  Tony asks, squinting slightly at the plasma.

 

“Oh, yes, of course.”  Turner closes in on the woman and waits for her superiors to take the lead.

 

Tony and Quinn both look at her closely, leaning forward for a moment before standing straight once more.  “She won’t be able to answer any questions anytime soon”, Tony declares, reaching over to his desk and grabbing the case file he had been looking at.  He picks out the picture of Amanda and holds it up beside the woman on the monitor. “She’s Jones’s fiancée, Amanda Richardson. She’s in a coma at the George Washington hospital.  Turner, the date of the footage.”

 

Turner goes over to her computer and presses a few buttons before the date popped up both on her screen and the plasma.  “October 16th, boss. The first day the USS Majestic crew was on leave.”

 

“Your rule for today, Turner, number 39.”  Gibbs opens his mouth to continue speaking and actually say the rule, but is interrupted as both Tony and the SFAs echo each other saying “There’s no such thing as a coincidence.” Tony chuckles as he once again flips through the case file.  “Very good, my padawans”, he chimes in.

 

“Richardson was admitted on the morning of the 17th.  Boswell could have been the rapist, which puts Jones in the light as a suspect, if he’d found out about it”, Quinn fills in as Turner takes out her phone and quickly types up the rule in the list she had in her notes app on her phone, before sliding it back into her pocket and focusing back on her bosses.

 

“Turner, find out more about Jones, when he befriended Boswell”, Tony orders before the team all head back towards their desks.

 

“Yes, boss!”  Turner chirps, sets down the remote control and goes back to her desk.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

Back in Vance’s office, the Director waits for the Legal representative to arrive, not really sure what to expect from them.  It isn’t long before Michelle Lee is opening the door and stepping in silently.

 

“Ah, Miss Lee, welcome.  I was told the Legal department wanted to speak to me, so please, go right ahead.”

 

Lee closes the door and walks towards the desk as she starts to speak.  “After looking at the book, we agreed that the best course of action would be to sue Agent McGee on multiple accounts.  This includes using cases solved by the MCRT, giving away internal investigative methods as well as personal information about the members of the team, making it virtually impossible for any of them to go undercover again.  It was also advised that Agent McGee’s publisher, Lyndi Crawshaw, will also be sued, and to demand that all books shall be pulled from stores and destroyed due to National Security issues.”

 

“Good, Miss Lee.  I’m glad to see we’re on the same page.”  Vance makes a face as he realises his word choice.  “Bad choice of words regarding our situation.”

 

“It’s okay, Director.  We would also like to interview Agent McGee beforehand, so we are aware how much he knows about his current situation.”

 

“Very well, I’m sure we could manage to make this happen.  I want to sit in on this meeting, and I will let Agent Gibbs know as well, in case he wants his lawyer to be there as well.”

 

“Yes, Director. Was there anything else?”

 

“Actually, yes.  The Cyber department has found evidence that Miss David shared classified information with Mossad.  She will be charged with espionage. I want your department to help Cyber compile all evidence, make a copy of it, and deliver it to the FBI.  They are in charge of the case and will handle it from there.”

 

Lee nods.  “I will get to it at once, Director”, she spoke before turning to leave the office, the door quietly closing after her.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

Vance follows soon after Lee and heads down to the bullpen, stopping beside Tony’s desk.  “Gibbs, do you have a moment? I'd like a few words with you.”

 

Gibbs looks up from his computer at the same time as he rises to his feet.  “Of course, Leon.” He walks over to the Director, and the two men head for the break room.  Nobody is there except for them, and the only sounds they hear are the quiet hums from the vending machines and the coffee maker.  Vance chooses a table and pulls out one of the chairs to sit, and Gibbs follows his example.

 

“What did you want to tell me?”  Gibbs leans back in his seat as he watches Vance.

 

“Agent McGee and his publisher, Lyndi Crawshaw, will be sued by NCIS.  Legal wants to interview him about the book. You can have your lawyer present if you wish so.”

 

Gibbs gives him a slow nod.  “I’ll call him and ask what he suggests we do.”

 

“Do that.”  Vance nods in return, and moves to stand.  “Let me know about his decision, either from you or from him himself.”

 

Gibbs gets to his feet and turns to head back to the bullpen.  “Will do, Leon.” He shoots Vance a small smile before he disappears around the corner, making his way back to the bullpen.  Vance watches him for a moment before following him out of the break room and going up the stairs back to his office, his right hand rubbing his eyebrow.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

Before Gibbs can reach his desk, his phone rings.  He checks the caller ID before answering, holding the phone up to his ear.

 

“Yeah, Gibbs.”

 

 _“Gibbs, I’ve found something.”_  Abby’s voice rings over the line, but she sounds a bit off to Gibbs’ ears.

 

“On my way.”  Gibbs hangs up quickly and goes to the back elevator, taking it down to Abby’s lab.  The loud drums of music aren’t there, replaced with the low hum of a classic rock guitar.  Gibbs furrows his brows, another point of something having changed for Abby.

 

Abby turns when she hears Gibbs’ footsteps and waves him over.  As Gibbs passes the trash can, he glances down and notices the absurd amount of Caf!-Pow cups in there.  He looks back up at the forensic scientist and stops beside the desk, looking at the screen hanging on the wall.  The screen is showing both knives.

 

“What have you found, Sciuto?”

 

“Well”, Abby zooms in on the top knife.  “This knife was bloody, but otherwise had nothing to do with our case.  The worst thing this knife has met was a pig. No human blood whatsoever.”  A button press, the other knife fills the screen. “But this knife has hit a gold mine. There were two distinct blood types found on this one.  One matches the victim, so the other should belong to his killer.  It has the same blood type as the second type found on his clothes.”

 

“And?  Does this mean you have a name?”  Gibbs prompts.

 

“No, he isn’t in any database.”  Abby shakes her head slowly.

 

Gibbs nods.  “Thank you, Miss Sciuto.”  He turns around and is halfway across the room when he hears Abby call after him.

 

“Gibbs…”  She bites her lip and glances around before focusing on him.  “Can I ask for help with something personal?”

 

Gibbs faces her and watches the forensic scientist.  “Can’t promise I’ll help, but shoot.”

 

“You know the Director talked to us about Gemcity, erm, Tim.  The book, and all of that.”

 

“Yes, I know.”  Gibbs nods slowly.

 

“What do you think I should do? The Director and SecNav said we should sue, but I don’t know…”  Abby crosses her arms across her stomach and looks down at the floor between them.

 

“You’ll have to decide that for yourself.  But if you want to sue, you’ll have to find a lawyer who specializes in this field yourself.”  

 

“Oh… Okay, Gibbs, thanks.”  Abby looks up at him again, only to watch his back as the agent leaves the lab, the door slowly closing behind Gibbs.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

When Gibbs returns to the bullpen, everyone on the team has Subway sandwiches on their desks and is waiting for the boss before they go for lunch.  Tony hands Gibbs his sandwich before they all take off for Conference Room 3.

 

The five team members find their places around the table, taking out their sandwiches.  Tony and Alex with their Italian BLTs, Hannah with her Rotisserie-Style Chicken, Gibbs with his Roast Beef Sandwich and Stan with his Cold Cut Combo.  The lunch is enjoyed with smalltalk and quiet sounds of appreciation for the lunch, but when the conversation lulls, Tony gains the attention of their team.

 

“Charles Foster, our newest team member, has touched down and found himself a place to live with his family, and will come around this afternoon to get his papers sorted out and say hi.”

 

“When will he start working here?”  Hannah asks.

 

“Monday, if everything goes to plan”, Tony responds.

 

The small talk resumes as the sandwiches are finished, and it isn’t long before the trash is thrown away and the group of agents make their way back to their desks to resume their work.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

Exiting the elevator, Ned Dorneget leads Rear Admiral Harmon Rabb Jr., the new JAG, towards the stairs for Vance’s office.  They don’t get far, however, before Rabb notices the MCRT leaving the conference room, and Gibbs in particular.

 

“Gibbs!”  He calls out with a slight grin, going over to them.  “Gunny, I see you’re still up to your old tricks!”

 

Gibbs, shaking his head, chuckles a bit harshly as he approaches Rabb.  “As you should very well know, it’s Special Agent Gibbs. NCIS still is a civilian agency, Rabb.”  Looking up at the mezzanine, he catches Vance’s eye as the director watches the interaction from above.  “Plus, I also believe Director Vance is waiting impatiently for you.”

 

Rabb looks up at Vance at the same time Gibbs turns and follows his team.  Vance, unamused by the scene, chews at his toothpick as he watches the scene unfold.  Dorneget, a bit flustered, hurries over to Rabb and guides him back towards the stairs.

 

“Thank you, Agent Dorneget, I will take it from here”, Vance tells him.

 

“Y-yes, Director.”  Dorneget nods and leaves quickly, leaving Rabb alone with Vance, and the two men retreat into the Director’s office.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

After watching the interaction between Gibbs and Rabb, Turner voices her confusion.

 

“Gibbs, why were you so rude to the Admiral?”

 

Gibbs turns around to glare at her, without words trying to make her back down.  After surviving one of Gibbs’ glares, she withstands and continues to meet his eye.  From behind Gibbs, Quinn asks him a question.

 

“Yeah, Jethro, what happened between the two of you?  Something must have happened to garner that kind of reaction, from the both of you.”

 

Tony bites back a chuckle at watching Gibbs being interrogated from both holds, and grins as his eyes travel from Turner, via Gibbs, to Quinn, and then back.

 

“It’s Rabb’s version of power play”, he tells them, hoping that’d be the end of it.  Unfortunately, he isn’t that lucky.

 

“But why would he do that?”  Turner asks, her head lilting to her right in confusion.

 

Gibbs lets out a sigh before answering.  “He’s probably still pissed that I arrested him that one time.”  

 

Their area goes completely silent for a moment before the SFAs and the junior agent exclaim “What?!”

 

“You - you arrested the JAG?  For… what, exactly?” Turner asks wearily.  

 

“Oh, come on, Gibbs, just spill the beans.  You know as well as I they won’t give in until you tell them”, Tony tells him, snickering quietly.  He simply grins at Gibbs when the senior agent turns to glare at him. “You’re not going to get them to back down now.”

 

Gibbs growls under his breath and sighs before he starts explaining.  “Back in 2003, Rabb wasn’t JAG, Chegwidden was. But, Rabb was their golden boy.  We had an investigation which Rabb tried to thwart with all he had. Which made him look very guilty.  And the more we found out, the guiltier he looked. He didn’t break when I had him in interrogation, so I ended up reading him his Article 31 rights, arresting him for murder.  Later, DiNozzo found evidence Rabb was innocent, so we let him go.”

 

“But, if he was found innocent, what’s his problem then?”  Turner asks.

 

Gibbs shrugs.  “Beats me. Now that you know the story, get back to work!”  He goes back to his desk and sits down with a frown. From the opposite corner, Tony snickers quietly to himself as he gets back to work.


	14. Old Friends and Newbies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team gets visits from old friends, and we also take a look at the newbies. Just as the chapter title says.

Friday, October 28, 2011

Vance walks with Rabb into his office and sits down behind his desk, gesturing for Rabb to take a seat on the other side.

 

“Have a seat, Admiral Rabb.  Now, do you want to tell me what that scene was about?”

 

The JAG leans back in his seat and looks at Vance, shrugging simply.  “Let’s just say we have a history, Director Vance.”

Vance leans forwards, resting his folded hands on his desk.  “Ah, yes”, he says with a tight smile, “I know everything about your ‘history’ with SSA Gibbs.  And let me make myself perfectly clear, Admiral: Gibbs is one of my best agents, and I do not appreciate your behaviour towards him.  SecNav won’t appreciate it either, she thinks very highly of Agents Gibbs and DiNozzo. You’d better put your grudge towards them to rest once and for all, because we all need to work together to solve this mess created by Agent McGee. Is that understood?”

 

Rabb, not used to being called out on his attitude like that, sinks back in his chair a bit, looking truly self-deprecated.  “Understood, Director.”

 

Vance relaxes at that and leans back in his chair.  “Very well, Admiral. Now, what can I do for you today?”  He shifts to get more comfortable as he waits for the response.

 

Rabb thinks for a moment before starting.  “Geez, I expected many things to happen in my first few months as JAG, but not anything of this caliber.  Prosecuting an NCIS agent for possible treason because of a book he wrote. Hey, how come this turns up now?  The book is several years old and should have been dealt with already.”

 

Vance shakes his head lightly.  “I have no idea either. I didn’t know McGee had given away sensitive information in his book.  It was Secretary Porter that brought this to my attention, and she herself stumbled upon it by accident.  The issue should have been addressed by the late Director Shepard and former Secretary Davenport. Did you hear anything about DoDs investigation about it?”

 

“No, I haven’t heard a thing.  Pretty sure they’re still double and triple checking everything.  After Porter informed me and insisted that I would be personally involved, I actually picked up a digital version of the book to read.  From what I’ve read, so far, he could be charged with treason as he not only revealed the inner workings of the Pentagon, but also gave away information about our weapon systems as well as how to gain access to them.  He also gave away way too much about his colleagues and their personal information, plus sensitive information about the inner workings of NCIS, and especially MTAC security. Hell, even I recognized the case of the Congressman deep into child pornography and trafficking and, Director, I was stationed in London at that time!”

 

Vance, letting out a sigh, shakes his head.  “What a Charlie Foxtrot, Admiral.”

 

“Agreed.  I’ll have to let Captain Roberts handle major parts of this case.  You have to understand I have more pressing matters and other responsibilities to take care of.  I can’t let them slide just because of this mess. If SecNav doesn’t keep you updated, he will.”

 

“Appreciated, Admiral Rabb.”

 

Rabb gets to his feet.  “And now I will get out of your hair, I have a meeting at JAG HQ to get to.”

 

Vance pushes away from his desk and gets to his feet, shaking his hand.  He stepped around his desk to walk with Rabb out of the office.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

Not long after Rabb and Vance disappeared into the office, Dorneget reappears in the bullpen, this time with A. J. Chegwidden in tow.  Dorneget leads the lawyer over to the MCRT and is first noticed by Gibbs, who gets to his feet and goes over to Chegwidden.

 

“DiNozzo, call up Ducky and Palmer now.”  

 

Tony nods and grabs his phone, calling down to autopsy to get the two doctors up to the bullpen.  After hanging up, he too moves away from his desk.

 

“They’re on their way.  Dorney, nice to see you”, he greets with a smile and pats Dorneget’s shoulder.  He gets a quiet “nice to see you too” from the TDA in response.

 

“We’ll take it from here, Dorneget”, Gibbs tells him.  Dorneget nods with a slight smile and leaves the bullpen quickly.  Gibbs then turns his attention to Chegwidden, shaking his hand. “AJ, thank you for coming.”

 

“Now, you better tell me what all this is about, Gibbs”, Chegwidden admonishes teasingly.

 

“When Ducky and Palmer arrive and we’re not surrounded by gossipers, I will.”

 

Just then, Ducky and Palmer step out of the elevator and head for the bullpen.  Tony smiles and waves them over. “Now that we’re all here, why don’t you lead the way, Gibbs?”

 

Gibbs nods and walks towards conference room 4, and Tony, Chegwidden, Ducky and Palmer all follow quickly.  It isn’t long before they’re all settled in the conference room, the lawyer on one side of the table and his to-be clients on the other.

 

“So, AJ, these are Doctors Donald ‘Ducky’ Mallard and Jimmy Palmer”, Gibbs began, gesturing to the doctors as they are referred to.  Chegwidden leans over the table and shakes their hands. “Ducky, Palmer, this is AJ Chegwidden, the lawyer we talked about.”

 

Chegwidden nods and sits back down, straightening his shirt.  “So, what is this about, gentlemen?”

 

“Agent McGee, under the pen name Thom E. Gemcity, wrote a book, basing all the characters on the people around him, us.  He barely even changed our names”, Gibbs explains. “SecNav came across his book and has launched a DoD investigation, an NCIS investigation, as well as advising all affected members of this team to sue.  McGee never asked for permission to use our likeness, and neither did his publisher. Tony and I offered Ducky and Palmer to sue with us.” 

 

“How bad is the book, exactly?  How were you affected?” Chegwidden asks them all.

 

“It's real bad”, Tony says solemnly. “In general he made us out to be assholes, a lot worse than we really are, but he also wrote things about our social lives that hurt us.  He also rose himself up and wrote as if he did a lot of what Jethro or I, or sometimes even Ziva, had done. Jimmy's character, Pimmy Jalmer, was portrayed as a necrophiliac. As for the cases he described, those are classified cases, in which he gave away investigative methods.  He may also be up for treason because he gave away details about our weapon systems.”

 

Chegwidden sighs and runs a hand over his mouth, his head moving from side to side slowly.  “So. You all want to sue together?”

 

“Yes.” The answer comes as a choir from all four men.

 

“Damn”, Chegwidden watches them.  “I'll have to get my hands on the book so I can read it.” 

 

“Oh, that won't be a problem, you can have the one at my desk”, Gibbs tells him.  “I'll be glad to get it out of there, it's been there way too long.” 

 

“Great.  I'll read it and then be in touch again”, Chegwidden pushes the chair a bit away from the table before he stands.  Both Doctors follow suit and thank him before heading back to Autopsy, leaving the lawyer alone with Tony and Gibbs.  They get to their feet and walk alongside Chegwidden back to the bullpen. Once there, Gibbs goes over to his desk and looks through his shelves to find the book.  He grabs it and goes back to Chegwidden, handing it to him.

 

“So, this is the thorn in your side.” Chegwidden glances at the front before turning it over and reading on the back.  “Thanks, Gibbs.” He nods at both team leads. “I'll be in touch”, he says as he walks towards the elevator.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

Right as Chegwidden is leaving, Rabb goes down the stairs and spots him.  “AJ!” He calls out as he walks faster, stepping onto the floor of the bullpen.  Chegwidden turns and watches him, going towards him.

 

“Harm, it’s nice to see you again”, he says with a smile.

 

“I could say the same to you, AJ”, Rabb smiles, before spotting the book in Chegwidden’s hands.  “Oh, please don’t say you’re involved in this mess too?”

 

Chegwidden nods.  “I am. Why, are you too?”

 

“Come on, AJ, SecNav is hounding me about this and wants me to do the prosecution.”

 

“At least he’ll get what he deserves, then.  I’ll be filing a lawsuit on behalf of Agents Gibbs, DiNozzo-Gibbs, as well as Drs Mallard and Palmer.  This book shouldn’t ever have seen the light of day.” Chegwidden shakes his head slowly.

 

“I agree.  After reading it and seeing some of the cases… I recognized them, and I was overseas at the time.  Some of them made international headlines.”

 

“You’ve read it already?  I’ve yet to start and I’m already dreading it…  Anyways, I’ve got to go, I need to inform my partners of this.”

 

Rabb nods and goes with Chegwidden to the elevator, where they are joined by Gibbs, who leads them out.  Once outside, Chegwidden says his goodbyes to them before heading to his car and driving off. Rabb watches him leave before turning to Gibbs, who is on his way back in.

 

“Gibbs, wait! Please!”  Upon hearing him, Gibbs turns back to face him, raising his eyebrow in question. 

 

“I just wanted to apologize for my behavior when I arrived, it was unnecessary.”

 

“Damn right, it was”,  Gibbs states while watching him, his face a blank mask.

 

“Well, I’m sorry”, Harm answers while starting to fidget due to Gibbs’  laser-like glare. 

 

“We had our differences in the past, but see Gibbs, with this mess we need to work together - if we like it or not. We are on the same side, so let’s start clean. I’ll try not to be an ass and avoid riling you up. What do you say?”

  
  
Gibbs glared at Rabb for a whole minute, making him fidget even more. While he didn’t like it at all, the Admiral was right; they were on the same side and they needed to work together. 

 

Finally, Gibbs gave in “Okay.”

 

“Okay?” Rabb parrots.  “That’s all you have to say?”

 

“Yeah”, Gibbs replies. “ We need to put our egos away in order to work together. SecNav, DOD and the rest of the alphabet soup involved expect us to play nice. So okay.”

 

With that being said, Gibbs turned on his heel to go back inside and leaves Rabb standing there dumbfounded. 

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

When Gibbs comes back to the bullpen, the team is still working on leads.  Turner is hunched over her computer, digging into Jones’s life and his presence at the gym.  She looks up at Gibbs and waves him over.

 

“Gibbs, Jones didn’t turn up at the gym until after Amanda had been assaulted.  He could have used the gym to escape the reality that his fiancée was in a coma.”

 

“Or he could have used the gym as an excuse to get close to Boswell.”  Gibbs turns to the rest of the team when Tony begins to speak. 

 

“Which puts him right at the number one spot on our suspect list”, he says, leaning back in his seat.  “Quinn, contact the hospital and ask them if they did a rape kit on Amanda. If they did, Sciuto can compare the DNA found to Boswell’s.”

 

“Already on it, boss”, Alex says as she lifts the phone, calling George Washington Hospital.  After a short conversation with a nurse and then a doctor, she puts the phone back down and looks up.  “They’re sending it here on Monday, they said we should have it by lunchtime.”

 

“Good”, Gibbs nods at her as he sits down, moving the chair closer to his desk.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

Ellie Bishop arrives at the Charleston branch of the FLETC, a bag slung over her shoulder.  She enters and tells the receptionist who she is. After tapping at her computer for a few moments, she smiles up at Bishop.  “Ah, Miss Bishop. You’re expected in hall C. Down the hall to the stairs, one floor down and to the right. Can’t miss it. Welcome to FLETC, Miss Bishop.”

 

“Thank you, Ma’am”, Bishop smiles back and heads down the hall until she finds the stairs.  Hoisting the bag further up on her shoulder, she takes the stairs down, quickly stepping down as she sidestepped to make room for the men and women walking in the opposite direction.

 

A young man is on his way through the door Bishop is heading towards, and spotting her, he steps aside and holds the door open for her.  Bishop shoots him a smile and a light-hearted “thanks” as she passes him, and gets a smile in return before the stranger is long gone, back in the mass of people.  Taking a right as instructed, Bishop sees the aforementioned Hall C straight ahead. Straightening her back, she walks towards it with a smile on her face and a glint in her eye.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

At the entrance of the bullpen, a newcomer stands silently.  Alex, being the closest to him, notices him first, and she smiles and gets to her feet.  “Foster, you haven’t aged a day! Still got that wicked hair of yours, too. What are you doing here, I thought you didn’t start until Monday?”

 

Foster chuckles and scratches the back of his head.  “I figured I had to get my paperwork out of the way with HR before I got to work so I didn’t waste actual work hours doing it.”

 

“Good thinking.”

 

Tony looks up and shoots Foster a slight grin.  “Team, this is Charles Foster, he’s our newest agent and will officially start working here on Monday.”  Foster is met with “hi”s and waves from the other team members.

 

“Foster, this is SFA Stan Burley, Junior Agent Hannah Turner, SSA Jethro Gibbs, and I’m SSA Tony DiNozzo.  And you already know SFA Alex Quinn, it seems.” Tony pushes away from his desk and stands up, reaching a hand out to Foster.

 

“It’s nice to meet you all”, Foster smiles at them and moves to shake Tony’s hand.  They shake hands before Tony smiles and pats his back, slightly pushing him towards Gibbs’ desk.  Foster walks over to stand in front of Gibbs, who stands and shakes his hand.

 

“Welcome to the team, Foster”, he says, nodding once.

 

“Thank you, Agent Gibbs”, Foster answers with a smile.  “I look forward to working with you and your team, I’ve heard a lot of good about you.”

 

Gibbs nods again.  “It’s good to have you on the team.  Now, if you’re done with HR, you're free to go home.”

 

Foster nods, says goodbye, and waves to the rest of the team as he leaves, going towards the elevator.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

Soon after Foster had left, the team begins to pack up.  They all enter the elevator and take it down to the entrance, where they split up to head to their cars.

 

Alex gets behind the wheel and drives off, reminding herself that she has to pick up some things in the morning before she goes to her mother’s.

 

Stan stops at the grocery store on his way home, and he bumps into Hannah there as well.  They chat as they go, revealing that all Hannah has planned is to catch up on some shows in her apartment, while Stan is going out to dinner with some old friends of his.  They part again in the parking lot, both carrying heavy shopping bags.

 

Ellie Bishop goes to bed after her day at FLETC and stares up at the ceiling, thinking.   _ Was I good enough?  Was there something I should have done differently?  I should not have done it like that _ .  She lies awake wondering how the rest of her week will go and hopes she won't be as nervous, but more importantly that she doesn’t screw up.

 

A.J. Chegwidden sits down in his most comfortable chair in the living room with the damn book in his lap.  Opening it slowly, he hears the spine crack from years of not being opened. He lets out a small sigh as he leans back and begins to read.

 

Harmon Rabb relaxes best in the air. Seeing him at the small airplane hangar, going thru preflight and runup checks should wonder no one.  Flying has always calmed him, and this time is no different.

 

Leon Vance closes the door to his home and is met with quick, light footsteps down the stairs as his kids Kayla and Jared bound down to greet him.  He smiles and hugs them before pulling back to see Jackie standing in the doorway to the dining room. He leans in and gives her a short, sweet kiss before she announces that everyone has to wash their hands before dinner.  Kayla and Jared race to the bathroom to wash their hands, and Leon smiles warmly as he watches them. He wraps an arm around Jackie's waist and kisses her again, and looks forward to the weekend with his family.

 

Tony and Jethro head home for the weekend to enjoy some peace and quiet, and some time just for themselves.  Tony leans back in his seat and closes his eyes, feeling the quiet of the car with the rumbling of the engine wash over him as he finally takes in that it’s the weekend.  Once at home, Jethro retreats to the basement to keep sanding his boat while Tony goes to the kitchen to prepare dinner for them. Later, much later both sit on the couch watching one of Tony’s favorite Bond movies while Tony not only runs a commentary on the movie, but also muses about Halloween which is lurking around the corner.

 

Tim and Abby talk to each other over the phone, both in rant mode about the unfairness of the whole situation.  Both decide to still go on with their original plan, but that they need to be more careful in order to not being caught, yet they still want to try a second time to get into Gibbs file. Neither of them seeing the sword of Damocles over their heads…

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm currently very busy with Kinktober and school in general, so there most likely won't be an update to this in a while. But I will still be working on it when I have the time and the energy to, so know I'm not leaving this behind. - Fangirl


	15. Beware of Pranksters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Halloween. Pranks happen.

Monday, October 31, 2011

Come Monday morning, come All Hallow’s Eve.  Jethro wakes up first, just before the alarm sounds, and slips out of bed to head to the bathroom.  He has already gotten into the shower when the shrill sound echoes through the second floor. The sound is accompanied by the groan elicited from his partner before the beeping stops.  Jethro finishes up in the shower and steps out just as Tony enters the bathroom.

 

With practiced ease, they move around each other, Jethro drying off as Tony takes his place in the shower.  Jethro shaves and brushes his teeth before exiting the bathroom. Back in the bedroom, he gets dressed and fixes his hair, a small smile on his face as he hears the shower shut off.

 

Before Tony can get out of the shower, Jethro has slipped out of the bedroom and is on his way downstairs, preparing breakfast for them and turning the coffee pot on.  The waft of coffee is what draws Tony down, and as he walks towards the coffee pot, he spots the calendar and realizes what date it is.

 

“You know, I really don’t like Halloween”, Tony says as he looks at the calendar in the kitchen, poking at the villainous date.  “There’s too much weird stuff going on. You know what I mean, right? Grave robberies, cattle mutilations, beheadings...”

 

“And McGee turning fuzzy and blue”, Jethro finishes without looking up, a hidden smile on his lips as he looms over the coffee pot.  “You say that every year, Tone.”

 

“You know as well as I do that it doesn’t make it any less true.” Tony grins and goes over to him, sneaking his arm around Jethro’s waist and resting his head on his shoulder.

 

Jethro shakes his head and turns his head to face Tony.  He presses a quick kiss to his cheek before pulling away to pour up two cups of coffee.  A cup is passed to Tony, who doctors it with sugar and his signature hazelnut creamer before sitting at the kitchen table, watching as Jethro takes his coffee along with his breakfast over to the table.

 

They eat in silence, and it isn’t long before the two men get their coats and head to the Navy Yard.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

When Tony and Gibbs reach the bullpen, Tony’s gaze is immediately drawn to Stan’s desk.  Said desk has been completely covered in Saran wrap. From the floor and up to his computer, every inch has been wrapped in several layers of the plastic wrapping.  After he has taken it in, Tony drops his bag beside his desk and lets out a laugh.

 

“Ah, I’m glad Stan hasn’t arrived yet, I’d love to see his face when he sees this”, he says to Gibbs, who shakes his head at him.

 

“Yeah?  You do this, DiNozzo?”

 

“What?  Me? No way, boss.”  Tony shakes his head as he tries to stifle a chuckle.  “I might be a prankster, but this wasn’t my doing. Whoever did, though, is a genius.”

 

“Gibbs!”  A shrill, angry voice comes from the other end of the bullpen, and heavy boots could shake the floor as Abby stomps over to the man she addressed.  “Someone messed with my lab!” She exclaims, crossing her arms on her chest.

 

Gibbs looks up at her, unimpressed.  “And how did someone mess with the lab equipment, Miss Sciuto?”

 

“Everything is moved three inches to the left!  It messes with everything.” Abby shakes her head.  As she stomps back off to her lab to fix things, Burley arrives with Quinn.

 

“Morning, Tony, Gibbs”, Burley greets with a nod to each of them, not yet having registered what has happened to his desk.  He drops his bag beside his chair before turning and stopping. “Wh-what has happened to my desk?”

 

“Obviously somebody wrapped it in Saran wrap, Stan”, Quinn quips as she sits down behind her desk.  And while Burley is trying to unravel the plastic from his desk, Turner and Foster arrive to witness the struggles of their SFA.

 

“Burley, don’t you… carry a knife you can use to help yourself with?”  Turner asks with amusement in her voice as she walks past. Mumbling something incomprehensible under his breath, Burley takes the pocket knife out of his pocket and begins slicing away at the Saran wrap. He tugs it out of the way to slice at the next layer of plastic, his mind whirring about who could have pulled this on him.

 

Tony looks up and notices that Foster is still standing by the entrance to the bullpen.  “Foster, welcome to the team.” He gets to his feet and shakes Foster’s hand. “You can take the desk face to face with Turner’s, that’s free right now.”

 

Foster nods.  “Thank you, Agent DiNozzo.”  He sets down his bag while Turner is booting up her computer, and then turns to face Tony and Gibbs.  “I’m sorry, but… What’s the hierarchy between you and Agent Gibbs?”

 

Tony glances at Gibbs before looking at Foster.  “The whole team might as well get to know this too.  Gibbs has Seniority over me. If our orders contradict and we haven’t solved it between us, his trump mine.  So ultimately, he’s the boss.” He watches as each team member nods and moves to get their desks in order. Once Foster has, he looks up.

 

“Agent DiNozzo,” Foster says as he looks at Tony, “do you know if Baltimore PD is still doing the Larceny Lotto?”

 

Tony grins.  “Of course they are, Foster.  Want me to get you back in the game?”

 

“Yeah, actually, I’d appreciate that.” Foster smiles back with a nod.

 

Turner looks between Foster and Tony.  “Sorry, but… What's the Larceny Lotto?”

 

“It’s a tradition in Baltimore PD”, Foster begins and glances at Tony, who looks at Turner.

 

“The cops there bet 200 dollars each on how much mischief will happen on Halloween.  I’m betting with a friend in Baltimore, and now Foster is, too.”

 

Turner nods. “Oh.  Thank you.” She smiles at them and turns back to her desk.

 

The discarded Saran wrap lays on the floor in an outrageously large pile when Burley takes a step back and goes around his desk to see if he missed anything.  He slumps into his chair and turns it to look at the heap. From the other end of the bullpen, Quinn snickers.

 

“Well, now that you’ve gotten it out of the way, Stan, what do you plan on doing with it?”

 

“Oh, I was thinking I’d shove it into the trashcan”, Stan mutters sarcastically.  “Where would I dump this much plastic wrap?”

 

“Aren’t there any dumpsters out back?”  Turner suggests. “I mean, there has to be, right?”

 

Stan nods absently and continues to stare at the pile as if it would mold into a being with feet and walk itself to the trash. Just as he’s about to get to his feet to handle the problem, Gibbs turns his attention to the pile.  “Are you going to take it out, Burley, or are you waiting for it to walk out on its own?”

 

“I’m taking it now, boss,” Stan answers as he gets to his feet.

 

Tony watches as Gibbs shifts his gaze back to the computer.  “You know, Burley, I like a good challenge. Pulling one over on Gibbs - that - would be a feat for the ages.”

 

Stan looks over at him as he gathers the pile.  “What’ve you got - a death wish?”

 

Tony just shoots him a grin.  “You know I like to live dangerously.”  He winks at Stan before moving back to his computer.  Stan just shakes his head and walks towards the back elevator, taking the giant ball of saran wrap with him.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

Down in the lab, Abby turns her music on as she works to right the wrongs that had been put upon her.  It takes her longer than it should have, and she realizes she should have asked for help, but she doesn’t know who she would have asked.  After getting everything back in order, she takes out the package from George Washington hospital and opens it.

 

The rape kit from Amanda is inside, and Abby gets to work to pick it apart and see what she finds.  As she works, she gets more and more certain of who the prankster is.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

Vance is sitting in his office, staring at his computer screen, when Pamela rings him up.  “Director, Kevin Hussein wants to see you.”

 

Letting out a quiet sigh, Vance waits a moment before he replies.  “Send him in.”

 

Kevin enters and closes the door behind himself, before quietly walking towards Vance’s desk.

 

“Director Vance, I have news regarding the attempted hacking of our files.”

 

Vance nods.  “Hold on, I’ll call Gibbs and DiNozzo up here as well, they need to hear this.”  He calls Pamela and asks her to bring the agents to his office.

 

Two minutes of silent waiting brings Gibbs and Tony into the office, the latter shutting the door after him.

 

“Good morning, Agents - now, Mr. Hussein, you may continue.”

 

Kevin nods to the two agents before he looks at Vance.  “We can’t locate the exact source, not while the laptop is offline, but it is close to the Hill.  We’ve pinned it down to a 0.5-mile radius. We are unable to trace it until it is turned back on, but when it does, we’ll know.  Its IP address is saved along with the OS and everything else we can use to track it down. So, as soon as it turns back on, we will know exactly where it is.”

 

Tony nods.  “So it’s someone close by.  Half a mile from the Hill?” 

 

Kevin turns to look at him and nods affirmatively.  “That was as close as we managed to get. Once the laptop is turned back on, we will contact you.”

 

“Good,” Vance says.  “If that is all, you are all excused.”

 

Tony, Gibbs and Kevin all nod and turn to face the door.   Soon after, the door opens, three sets of feet pass the doorstep, and then the door closes, leaving Leon Vance alone.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

Soon Burley has returned to his desk and checks under it to make sure he hasn't missed any saran wrap.  As he is ducked under his desk, Gibbs looks up at Foster.

 

“Foster, have you gotten yourself settled and caught up with the case?” Gibbs asks him, making Foster look up from his computer.

 

“Yeah, Gibbs, I have.”

 

“Good.  You are going with Quinn to get Jones back in interrogation.”

 

“Yes, boss.”  Foster gets to his feet and is immediately startled by the trumpet sound played from Turner’s computer.

 

“Turner, shut that off.”  Gibbs glares at her, watching as Turner, panicked, types and moves the mouse back and forth across the screen until the noise disappears.

 

“Sorry, Gibbs, I - I don’t know what happened.  I didn’t even press anything, it started up all by itself.”  Turner looks at him apologetically before turning back to her computer, only to watch as every program she had open closes on their own.  “Oh, come on!” As she once again rapidly types, a snicker comes from the other side of the bullpen, and soon Tony is standing beside her.

 

“Are you sure this isn’t a PEBKAC issue, Turner?”  He teases, making the young agent shoot him an exasperated glare.

 

“Yes, Agent DiNozzo, I am sure that it’s not my fault.  The problem does not exist between keyboard and chair.” Turner begins to open up the programs, and they start without any issues.  “See? They’re working perfectly now.”

 

“Then the problems won’t persist?”

 

“Hopefully not,” she mumbles, her shoulders tense.

 

Tony shakes his head and goes back to his desk, settling in as he watches Quinn and Foster finally leave.  As they do, the remaining agents get to work, currently without any more mishaps. They gather the information they have and sit down to prepare it together, as a team.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

Out of the elevator on the other end of the squad room steps Bud Roberts.  It has been a while since his last visit, but spotting Gibbs in a crowd isn’t hard, and he makes his way across the room until he’s standing beside Quinn’s empty desk.

 

“Agent Gibbs.  Agent DiNozzo,” he greets, gaining the attention of the two team leaders.

 

“Captain Roberts, good to see you,”  Gibbs says with a nod.

 

Roberts nods to him.  “The JAG sent me, he wants me to find the cases used in the book he’s investigating.”

 

Gibbs nods again and looks towards Tony.  “DiNozzo, you know those cases better than anyone.  Help Roberts with the cases and everything he needs.”

 

“Yes, boss,”  Tony says, getting to his feet.

 

“Oh, and before I forget, I need to verify NCIS’ SOP to compare it to the way it is projected in the book.”  Roberts nods at Tony before looking back to Gibbs as the team leader speaks up.

 

“I’ll ask Vance to get the head of security to help you and DiNozzo.”

 

“Okay, thanks, Gibbs.”

 

“Captain, I’ll show you to conference room three, and then I’ll get some of the case files from the archive. I remember some cases from the book off the top of my head, we can start with them.”  Tony smiles at Roberts and leads him to the conference room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the delay in updates, we are still working on this, but school has been heavy lately, so it has been too much work. But I will be working as much as I can to get the next chapter out. This story has not been abandoned.
> 
> JeanneGibbs: I need a reliable beta for proof-reading for a new NCIS story centered around Gibbs which is in the works, mainly you have to catch my errors in tense as I switched them halfway thru writing and recently decided to get back to the first one. More info on my new LJ: https://jeannegibbs.livejournal.com/


	16. Pranks, DNA and Books, oh my!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The pranks continue, and more details about Deep Six come to light.

Monday, October 31, 2011

 

Foster and Quinn walk on each side of Jones as they enter NCIS.  Jones’s face is pale and his lips are drawn into a slight frown, but his back is straight and his eyes show no concern.  Quinn unlocks the door to the interrogation room and opens it before Foster leads Jones to the table. Foster moves a hand to the chair, but Jones slips forward and pulls the chair out himself.  Sitting down, he stares into the mirror and doesn’t say a word until a soda can is placed in front of him.

 

“Here.  You must be thirsty,” Foster says, having been passed the drink from Quinn.  Jones frowns at the can before looking up at Foster. Slowly, he takes the can, pulls the tab, and opens it.  As he tips his head back to take a sip of the soda, Foster leaves the room and shuts the door behind him.

 

“Let’s leave him for a few while we let Gibbs know he’s in here,” Quinn says, pushing away from the wall opposite to the door. She nods to the guard standing beside the interrogation room and leads the way back to the squad room.  Foster hurries to keep up with her.

 

“Damn, you walk fast,” he exclaims with a huff when he catches up with her.  Quinn lets out a chuckle and slows down.

 

“Sorry, Foster, got used to walking with tall teammates.  Not used to a guy at my own height.”

 

“It’s okay, I used to get teased back in Cali for being short.  There was always at least a head in height between me and the guys at my team.  Guess I should have learned to walk faster as well.” Foster shakes his head. 

 

The two agents sit down at their desks after reaching the bullpen, both noticing the absence of the two team leaders. 

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

Not long before Foster and Quinn return, Gibbs receives a phone call from the lab.

 

“Gibbs.”

 

_ “I have the results,” _ Abby tells him.

 

Gibbs nods as he gets to his feet.  “I'll be right down, Abbs.” He hangs up and pockets his phone as he walks towards the back elevator.

 

The lab floor is once again filled with music, but instead of the usual heavy rock, the music is filled with the spirit of Halloween.  The music isn't the only thing changed for Halloween, however. Abby is wearing a light blonde, curly wig, and a white dress as she turns to face Gibbs just as the music is shut off.  Gibbs’ hand falls from the speaker as he looks at her.

 

“You’ve got results?” He asks, stepping further into the room.

 

“Yes, Gibbs.  I examined the DNA from the rape kit, and it matches exactly with Boswell's.  He’s definitely the one who did this to her.” Abby turns to her computers and brings up the two different samples.  After showing them side by side, she makes then overlap to show that they are one and the same. Her empty hand reaches for the Caf!-Pow beside her, and a quiet slurping sound is heard.

 

Gibbs looks at the screen and nods once.  “Thank you, Sciuto.” As he turns around, he eyes the Halloween decorations with disdain.  However, he doesn’t voice his irritation with Abby’s still-present defiance for rules and instead leaves the lab, shutting the door behind him without another word.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

As he reaches the bullpen, coffee in hand, Gibbs is called for by Balboa.  “Gibbs, can you take a look at this?” With a nod, Gibbs sets his cup down on the desk and goes over to Balboa’s team, leaving the coffee unattended.

 

Ten minutes later, he returns and thinks to himself that his cup looks like it has been moved a few inches away from where he put it.  Shrugging it off, he lifts it to his mouth and takes a sip, only to sputter, scrunch his nose, and drop the offending cup into the trash can with a grunt of disgust.

 

“Which one of you found it funny to add spices to my coffee?”  He grumbles, shooting each present member of the team a glare. Each of them looks up in surprise at his outburst, before Quinn decides to open her mouth.

 

“What spices?”

 

“Ginger, and too much nutmeg, at least.  And milk.” Gibbs turns his glare back on her.  “Was it you?”

 

“Oh, no, Jethro, I didn’t touch your coffee, I swear.”  She shakes her head. “That’s another rule for your list, Turner, number 23: Never mess with a Marine’s coffee… If you want to live.”  Quinn hears the frantic tapping of the keyboard at Turner’s desk as the junior agent transcribes the rule for later. Turner nods her thanks just as another trumpet sound blares from her speakers, the same as from before.

 

A curse is mumbled under the blare before the sound disappears as abruptly as it began.  “What the- I even shut off the speakers.” Checking the sound settings proves to Turner that whatever causes the trumpet sound to play, must also cause the speakers to turn up until almost max volume to make the sound as obnoxious as possible.  “3 - 2 - 1 - ” Turner mutters, and then - nothing. No programs close on their own, nor does anything else happen. She lets out a sigh of relief and leans back in her chair, glaring at her computer. “Are you moody at me today or something?” Turner asks, remembering all the times in her schooling that programs had been written correctly, only the computer had refused to run them properly.  Sighing, she turns off the speakers once more and goes back to work, firmly ignoring the problem until it appears again.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

Up in the conference room, Tony is sitting with a stack of case files from around the time the book had been written, while Roberts has his copy of the book open on his tablet.  Beside them rests a snoozing laptop, in case there turns out to be a file Tony had missed. Roberts flips through the pages of the novel and recites case details, to which Tony responds by rummaging through his stack, pulling out a case and his report, quoting the same detail, nearly verbatim. 

 

“For a successful author, he lacks originality and imagination,” Roberts comments after the third incident like that.

 

“You can say that twice, Captain.”  Tony sighs with a shake of his head.

 

“Drop the Captain, Agent DiNozzo.  It appears we will be working closely for quite some time with this mess of a book. No need to be so formal while doing it.”

 

“Then call me Tony,” Tony leans back with one of the case files.  “Well, at least the second book didn't make it to press.”

 

“A second book?” Roberts asks, looking up from the screen.  “I didn't know there was a second book.”

 

“There isn't.  There were plans, an almost finished book, but a case involving a lunatic taking the book too seriously ended up delaying the release of that book for forever.” Tony leans back.  “The guy took typewriter rolls out of McGee's trash and used that to read the story. He almost got Abby Sciuto killed.”

 

Roberts runs a hand across his mouth.  “Are you absolutely sure that book didn't get published?” 

 

“Well, no, but surely even McGee has enough decency to not publish something like that, after one of his friends almost got killed because of it, and two other people died.”  

 

“I think that, right now, we can’t be sure of anything,” Roberts says and reaches for the dozing computer.  Some impatient tapping of the space bar and a quick Google search later leaves the men with the knowledge that the second book had indeed been published.

 

“A year after the first.  I can’t believe he cared more about profit than the security of his friends,”  Tony says. “I need to tell Gibbs.”

 

“We’re going to have to get ahold of this book too, in case we have to include this one as well.”  Roberts closes the laptop and unlocks his tablet, closing out of the first book before trying to find the second online.

 

Tony nods.  “I’ll get the case files from the murders while I’m out,” he adds as he opens the door and exits the conference room, leaving Roberts alone with the revelation of suddenly twice as many pages to go through. Harmon Rabb was going to love this!

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

“Gibbs, we need to talk!  Now!” Tony looks at him and nods towards an empty hall.  Gibbs, noticing the way Tony was looking at him, gets to his feet and follows him.  The hall had been laid in darkness from lack of use, but as the two agents approached, the lights flickered before turning on.

 

“There’s a second book,”  Tony tells Gibbs after a moment of loaded silence.  “McGee published Rock Hollow.”

 

“He what?!”  Gibbs snapped, before schooling his features.  “Dammit, I’m going to bite his head off, and Vance and SecNav will go ballistic.  How’d you find out?”

 

“Roberts and I checked after I told him about the murders. Roberts wanted to be sure, a case of better being safe than sorry.  Rock Hollow was published one year after Deep Six, almost on the day.”

 

Gibbs breathes out a sigh.  “Well, you know where the case files are, I’ll leave you to it.  Vance is gonna snap.”

 

“I know.  Just don’t let Vance push you around,” Tony teases gently to lighten the mood, taking a half-step closer.  The tease had the desired effect of making Gibbs shoot him a half-smirk.

 

“Do I ever let him push me around?”  He teases back.

 

“Okay, fine.  Don’t push Vance too much around.  Now go tell him, the longer you wait, the more pissed off he’ll be.”  As Tony turns to leave, he’s stopped by a gentle hand on his elbow, turning him back around.

 

“I left my coffee on my desk.  Did you mess with it?” Gibbs asks, looking into his eyes.

 

“What?  Jeth, I know how much you treasure your coffee, you’re even more picky with your blend than I am.” Tony shakes his head as he places his hand on Gibbs’ chest, stepping even closer to the other.  He has a glint in his eye as he continues. “I wouldn’t risk your wrath by messing with it, Rule 23 and all, especially if I wasn’t going to be there to see it. Plus, this is the first time I’ve left the conference room since Roberts arrived.  He can vouch for me.”

 

Gibbs only responds with a dismissive shrug of a shoulder, before leaning closer to Tony until he is breathing hot air against his ear.  “Don’t keep him waiting, DiNozzo, or he might change your alibi.” His voice is low and raspy, and teasing.

 

Laughing quietly, Tony turns his head and presses a swift, barely-there kiss to Gibbs’ cheek before pulling away.  “Fine, fine, boss, I’m on my way.” He turns and leaves the hall, heading for the elevator.

 

Gibbs schools his features back into a frown as he goes back to the bullpen, only to stomp past his team as he heads for the stairs.  Ignoring any trying sounds from his team, Gibbs hurries up the stairs towards Vance’s office, and as he heads for the door, a trumpet sound once again blares from Turner’s computer.  ‘I hope she gets that fixed soon,’ he muses to himself as he walks past Pamela and opens the door.

 

“You know, Gibbs, there is such a thing as knocking,”  Vance tells him calmly and watches the agitated agent close the door and walk over to him, placing both hands on Vance’s desk and leaning forward.

 

“We’ve got a problem.”

 

“About what?”  Vance asks, although he has a feeling he already knows the answer.

 

“McGee.  There’s a second book, DiNozzo just told me about it.”

 

“Gibbs, tell me you’re kidding.”  A pointed look from Gibbs lets him know there’s no joke.  “Okay, he made a second book, continuing from the first.”

 

“Even after the murders, McGee still chose to finish and publish it,”  Gibbs tells him, voice strained to remain in control.

 

“Murders?”  Vance’s eyebrows raise as he looks up at Gibbs.  “What murders?”

 

“While the book was in the works, some madman got ahold of some of his story and decided to reenact the two murders in the book.  He even got to Sciuto, and almost shot her.”

 

A disgruntled breath escapes Vance’s lips as he frowns.  “And why would he decide to still publish a book that has two, almost three, deaths caused by the contents?”

 

“Beyond me.”

 

“Dammit, SecNav and the JAG are  _ not _ going to be happy about this.  We have to get our hands on that book as well.”

“Captain Roberts is looking into getting ahold of a copy for himself, as far as I understood from DiNozzo.”  Gibbs straightens back up as he speaks.

 

“Good.  And make sure your lawyer knows as well.  No permission was given there either, I take it?”  Vance watches Gibbs with his jaw clenched.

 

“Damn right.  Chegwidden will be less than happy to hear he’s going to have to read another of those books.”

 

“And you think SecNav or Rabb will be thrilled?”  Vance asks sarcastically.

 

“Didn’t say they would be.  I’ll leave you to it, Director.”  And with that, in typical Gibbs fashion, he leaves the office without another word.

 

Vance lets out a sigh as he picks up the phone and dials a number he would rather not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who's the prankster? Any guesses?
> 
> JeanneGibbs: I need a reliable beta for proof-reading for a new NCIS story centered around Gibbs which is in the works, mainly you have to catch my errors in tense as I switched them halfway thru writing and recently decided to get back to the first one. More info on my new LJ: https://jeannegibbs.livejournal.com/

**Author's Note:**

> As always, kudos and comments are dearly appreciated!!


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